Banter and Bets Series
by kjt1
Summary: Josh loses his voice - which is a catalyst for much more (Part 10/10) - Now Complete.
1. Bellowed Out

TITLE: "Bellowed Out"

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own 'em.

SPOILERS: Through Season 4

NOTES: This is just a little fun piece that popped into my head - which has now turned in to a series :-)

FEEDBACK: Sure, send it my way

**

"Morning, Josh," Donna said brightly as he passed her desk en route to his office. Josh merely grunted a response, entered his office and closed the door. Donna rolled her eyes, but left him to wallow in whatever was bugging him.

She entered his office ten minutes later, not bothering to knock, but closing his door behind her.

"So, how are you doing today, Josh?" she said cheerfully, taking a seat in the visitor's chair and preparing to read him his schedule. She was met with silence. "Why, I'm fine Donna, thanks for asking. How are you?" she said dryly. He looked up at her briefly but still said nothing. "Josh?" she tried again, getting impatient. "Earth to Josh, are you there?" A slight smirk appeared on his face before he returned his gaze to the memo in his hand.

Donna let out a loud sigh and then read his schedule aloud, finishing by telling him that he had Senior Staff in fifteen minutes. He shook his head at her.

"Josh? What are you shaking your head for? Is there something wrong with your schedule?" He nodded. "Well, what is it?" she asked impatiently. He looked at her for a moment but was still silent. "Josh!" she exploded. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I…" he trailed off, his voice almost inaudible; that got Donna's attention.

"Josh? Are you okay?" she asked softly, reaching across the desk to place a hand on his forehead; he didn't have a fever.

"I've lost my voice," he croaked. Donna sat back in her chair and fought valiantly to stifle her laughter, but failed after a few moments. "Don't," he warned, pointing a finger at her.

"I'm sorry," she gasped, amidst her laughter. "It's just, this is too good to pass up."

"Donna," he tried to command, his voice stopping it from emerging as more than a whiny whisper.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, trying to bring her laughter under control. "Oh, this is priceless. I really wanna be a fly-on-the-wall at Senior Staff." Josh shook his head vehemently. "Don't worry, Josh, I know I can't go."

"That's not what I meant," he said hoarsely. At her raised eyebrows he said, "I'm not going."

"Josh? You have to go. It's Senior Staff, you are a pretty big part of that group, you know." He smirked smugly and Donna rolled her eyes.

Josh tried to speak but no sound came out. He coughed and tried again, still nothing. Finally, with total frustration, he grabbed a legal pad and scribbled something before thrusting the pad across the desk to Donna. She looked at what he had written – 'I can't go. I'm not going to be any use like this, except as a punchbag for jokes.' – and then looked back at him.

"Josh, you don't really get much of a choice. What am I supposed to tell Leo? 'I'm sorry, Josh doesn't feel like going to the meeting today'?" He glared at her. "You could go and just sit and listen," she suggested. He glared some more. "Except, you can *never* just sit and listen, you always have to get your two cents worth in. Hey, maybe this will do you some good, teach you something about the art of listening," she grinned.

He snatched the pad back, ripped off the used top sheet, balled it up and threw it in the trash. He then hurriedly wrote on a fresh page and showed the words to Donna.

"You're fired!" she read. "Josh, you can't fire me even when you have a voice, do you really think you're gonna be able to do it now?" Donna asked through more laughter. He grabbed the pad back again and had his pen poised to write more when Donna interrupted him. "Look, before you break a few pens with the force you're using to write – is that some way of showing me that you're pissed, by the way? Anyway, before you do that, let's just cut to the chase; you have to go to Senior Staff, you don't get a choice. I'll call Margaret and explain; I'm sure Leo will be happy to have you there as a mere observer, in fact, I think he'll be *delighted* that you can't interrupt everyone like you usually do." She risked glancing at him and received the expected glare. "All your notes for the meeting are typed up, I'll make copies and you can hand them out, let everyone read them. If they have any questions, they can e-mail you." She was trying to make a practical suggestion but Josh balled up another piece of paper and threw it at her, casting her a 'not funny' look. "How did this happen anyway?" she asked seriously, catching the paper easily and throwing it in the trash; Josh raised his eyebrows in admiration when she made the shot easily. "You were fine when you left here last night," she stated. Josh shrugged his shoulders and wrote, slowly, on the pad 'I don't know. I woke up like this.' "Ah," Donna said, grinning at him. "See, I kept telling you that all the bellowing you do would catch up with you, but would you listen? Well, now you have no choice *but* to listen."

Josh glared at her again and then gave in to a cough. "Donna," he whispered warningly when he had stopped coughing. "Don't have too much fun, I'll get you back."

"Of course you will, Frog Boy." He gave her a strange look. "You're croaking," she explained. "You sound like a frog." Josh rolled his eyes at Donna's large smirk. "Anyway, I'll just go copy your notes and call Margaret. I'll be right back." She took the folder of notes from his desk and left the office, leaving the door open. Josh groaned as he heard her announce to the bullpen jubilantly, "Bring me the finest bagels and muffins in all the land! Today is gonna be a good day!" 

*

Josh knocked loudly on the window of Donna's cubicle as he returned from Senior Staff and then pointed towards his office. She dutifully followed him and he closed the door after her.

He sat down at his desk and wrote on his legal pad before passing it to her; she had taken a seat in the visitor's chair again.

Donna read what he had written – 'You told CJ to call me frog boy!' – and grinned at him. "I didn't tell her to call you that," she defended. "Well, except maybe I did," she added quietly, laughing at the look on his face. "Actually, I didn't so much tell her as *suggest* to her; if she chose to take the ball and run with it, who am I to stop her?" He wrote on the pad again, asking when she'd had time to *suggest* anything to CJ. "Um, well, I might have called her after I called Margaret. Just to make sure she realized why you weren't saying anything in the meeting, you understand." Josh shot her a skeptical look and she shrugged her shoulders, grinning widely. "So, how did the meeting go anyway?"

"They laughed," Josh managed to croak out. "A *lot*."

"Well, you had to expect that."

"Yeah, but you gave Leo enough time to tell the President," he whispered hoarsely.

"The President came to the meeting?" she guessed.

"Yeah, he *popped in* to see for himself. He wants to see me tonight, so he can torture me on National Parks again. Like I didn't learn enough *last time*."

"Um, why does he want to do this tonight?" Donna asked sweetly, already knowing the answer and trying to suppress a grin.

"Because I'll be forced to listen," he said sulkily, before having another coughing fit.

Donna took pity on him and grabbed a bottle of water from his fridge and handed it to him. He took a sip, but the coughing didn't subside, so she walked behind his desk to rub his back gently.

As Josh coughed, CJ knocked on the door and entered, raising her eyebrows at the reflection she saw in Josh's window; the sight of Donna standing behind Josh, one hand rubbing his neck and the other rubbing his back. Josh sat up straighter and Donna let her hands fall to her sides, moving away from him slightly. He was still coughing and CJ's face was beginning to share the same look of concern as Donna's.

"Josh, are you okay?" CJ asked quietly. He nodded his head and gave one final cough.

"Yes," he rasped, reaching for the water and finishing the bottle in one gulp. "What?" he whispered, giving her a look that asked her what she needed to see him about.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. I just wanted to tell you that we all had a great time in Staff this morning. Are you gonna be doing an evening show as well?" she asked with a wide grin. Josh glared at her and Donna had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop her laughter.

"Not funny!" he croaked.

"Oh, but it is, my now sexy-voiced friend," CJ stated. "How often are we pretty much guaranteed peace and quiet when Josh Lyman is around?" Josh narrowed his eyes at her. "Actually, I'll amend that statement," she continued. "I should have said just *quiet*, I know you can cause trouble as fast as I can draw breath, whether you have a voice or not."

Josh grabbed his legal pad and scribbled on it, after trying to speak.

"You just made my list," she read aloud. "List? What list?"

He looked at Donna and she rolled her eyes as she guessed what he was meaning. "His list of people to get back," she explained. "I wouldn't worry though, CJ, he never remembers these things. I guess his voice is now joining his memory, you know, going."

Josh threw a balled up piece of paper at Donna, which she easily avoided, and then turned to CJ. "Out," he whispered, making it seem commanding by pointing a finger towards the door. He then motioned to Donna to follow CJ and the two of them left his office, yelling "See you later, Frog Boy."

*

Despite having no voice, Josh had no other visible signs of being ill and this frustrated him, as he informed Donna via email; if he was going to have no voice, he at least wanted a *reason* for it, preferably one that would gain him some sympathy. Donna was trying her best not to laugh at him, or let him see her delight at his lost voice; she settled for not mocking him *too* much.

Abbey Bartlet entered Josh's office that afternoon to find him standing over Donna, who was sitting in his chair; Donna was surfing the Internet, at his insistence, to find possible reasons for him losing his voice so suddenly.

"Ah, Donna, there you are," the First Lady said by way of a greeting.

Donna swung round in her chair and started to stand up but was immediately waved back into her seat. "You're looking for *me*?" Donna asked with surprise.

"Yes, I brought you this," she replied, handing Donna a bottle of champagne which she set down on Josh's desk. "I believe you are doing some celebrating today, since Josh has lost his voice."

Josh managed to let out a loud groan and both women looked at him with amusement. Abbey took a seat in the visitor's chair and Donna wheeled her seat back to its usual place behind Josh's desk; Josh settled for sitting on the edge of his desk.

"Actually, Mrs Bartlet," Donna began, "you've dropped by at just the right time. Josh was wondering what could have happened to his voice, why it went so quickly. Have you any ideas?"

"Well, there could be any number of reasons," Abbey replied and Josh gave her a pleading look. "Do you have any other symptoms?" Josh shook his head and looked to Donna.

"Apparently, he just woke up this morning without a voice. Is that usual?"

"It can happen." She looked at Josh. "You're probably just tired, this is your body's way of telling you to take a break." He rolled his eyes. "This might go away as quickly as it came," she told him and he looked hopeful. "However, it might also be the start of a cold. So, look after yourself. I'm sure we all want to hear your dulcet tones again as quickly as possible."

Donna snorted at the First Lady's comment and Josh narrowed his eyes. "I already suggested that his bellowing might be the cause of the problem," Donna explained; Abbey grinned.

"Well, she might have a point, Josh," Abbey said with a smirk as she stood up. Josh stood up as well, moving behind Donna and pulling the chair out from the desk, effectively telling her to get out of his chair. Donna and Abbey grinned at each other as they started to leave the office. "I mean it, Josh, get some rest," Abbey instructed. Josh nodded as they left.

Donna returned a moment later. "I forgot this," she grinned, grabbing the champagne bottle from his desk. Josh rolled his eyes and shook his head, causing her to laugh as she left again.

*

Donna had been home for about two hours when her phone rang just before 10pm. "Hello?" After a few seconds of relative silence, she spoke again. "Okay, Josh, be thankful that I have Caller ID or I might be calling you a heavy breathing pervert right about now."

"Donna," he whined in a croaky voice.

"Josh, are you okay?" she asked with alarm; he sounded even worse than he had when he'd left the office. She had managed to persuade him to go home early, saying she'd tell the President that Abbey had told him to; Josh had jumped on the opportunity to get out of the President's trivia talk.

"No, my throat hurts," he complained, his voice raspy.

"Josh, your throat's been hurting all day," she pointed out.

"No, I just didn't have a voice before, my throat wasn't sore. It really hurts now though." At that, he gave in to a coughing fit; this time it was punctuated by sniffles.

"I'm on my way," Donna said immediately.

"No, I don't expect you to come over," Josh whispered seriously. "I just wanted to ask you what you think I should do, what should I take for it?"

"Um, Advil I guess, and drink plenty. I'm gonna come over though."

"Donna –"

"Josh, I'm coming over. I know what you're like. If I don't you'll end up phoning me a lot through the night to ask me questions about how to make you feel better, even though you can hardly talk and should know what to do anyway. I'll be there in twenty." She hung up the phone, let out a sigh and grabbed her coat and keys.

*

"Josh?" Donna called out as she let herself into his apartment. Finding his living room and kitchen empty, she headed for his bedroom. She found it empty as well but could hear the shower running. Stopping in front of the bathroom door, she said loudly, "Josh, I'm here. I'll be in the living room."

Josh appeared in the living room about ten minutes later, dressed in jeans and a sweater with his hair still wet.

Donna rolled her eyes at him. "Josh, why did you bother to get dressed again? You're going to bed."

"I'm not tired," he stated firmly, with a shake of his head.

"The best remedy for a cold is lots of rest, Josh," Donna replied, staring him down. He let out a huffy sigh and dropped onto the couch beside her. "Your voice sounds a little stronger," she said quietly.

"Yeah, but it hurts to talk," he grumbled.

"So, don't talk," she stated matter-of-factly, grinning at his narrowed eyes. "Did you eat anything?"

He shook his head as he answered. "No, it'll make my throat hurt more."

"No, it won't," she laughed. "You just have to eat the right stuff. I brought some soup, I'll go heat it up." Josh looked at her curiously. "I had a feeling you wouldn't have eaten so I grabbed it on the way out," she informed him.

"What kind?" he asked cautiously.

"Chicken noodle." She stood up and headed for the kitchen, stopping briefly to glance back at him. "I'll be right back with it, did you take some Advil?" He nodded his head and then grimaced, placing a hand on his forehead, effectively admitting that he had a headache. Donna gave him a pointed look and he curled up on the couch, laying his head on one end of it.

Donna returned five minutes later with a bowl of soup on a tray, which she placed on the coffee table. Josh sat up and eyed the bowl warily. Donna let out a long sigh and sat down beside him again, lifting the tray onto his lap and placing the spoon in his hand.

He managed to take a few spoonfuls of soup before coughing again and Donna moved the tray from his lap before it fell due to the shakes of his body as he coughed. When he regained control he shook his head as Donna reached for the tray again.

"No," he said hoarsely. "I've had enough."

"Josh, you have to eat more," Donna said firmly, but he shook his head again.

"I can't, Donna." He looked at her with pleading eyes and gave her a half-smile. "I wouldn't mind a cup of tea though." Donna returned his smile and rose to make some tea.

They were both slowly drinking tea when the phone rang. Donna started to reach for it but Josh batted her hand away and grabbed it before her. "Hello?" he croaked. "Oh, hi, CJ." He listened for a moment. "Yeah, my voice is stronger but I'm not –" he stopped talking abruptly and passed the phone to Donna just as he started sneezing.

"Hi, CJ, it's Donna."

"Donna, is Josh okay?" CJ asked worriedly.

"Yeah, he's okay. I think the First Lady was right though, his voice going was the first symptom of a cold."

"But his voice sounds stronger," CJ said with confusion.

"I know, but believe me, he's not well."

"Has he got to the annoying stage yet?" CJ asked with a smirk in her voice.

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe," Donna replied, passing Josh another tissue as he collapsed against the back of the couch, tired from the exertion of sneezing. "He's the only man I've ever met who can still whine even when he has no voice," Donna continued, earning a glare from Josh.

"He's quite something, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is quite something," Donna agreed, rolling her eyes as she noticed Josh's smug grin. "That's not a good thing," she said to Josh, who merely smirked before sneezing again. "CJ, I'd better go. I want to go and buy some shares in Kleenex, I have a feeling Josh is going to be buying tissues in bulk for the next few days."

"Okay, will he be at work tomorrow?"

"CJ!" Donna said with a laugh.

"Right, dumb question. He's not going to make you look after him all night, is he?"

"No, I'm just gonna persuade him that he really has to go to bed and then I'm going home. I only came over because I knew he'd keep bugging me otherwise.

"Yeah," CJ said in understanding. "Well, I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Bye, CJ." Donna hung up the phone and turned to Josh. "Are you going to give in and go to bed now?" she asked him pointedly.

"I'm still not tired," he whined.

"Josh!" She gave him a disbelieving look. "You're exhausted from coughing and sneezing. Go to bed," she ordered.

He was about to argue when he started coughing again; he knew any argument would be futile and he didn't have the energy. As much as he hated losing against Donna, he stood up and headed for his bedroom. Donna took their mugs to the kitchen and washed up before grabbing the box of tissues and crossing to Josh's closed bedroom door.

"Can I come in?" she asked quietly as she cracked the door open a little. Josh grunted and she opened the door fully. "Josh, you're supposed to be going to bed." He was standing looking out the window, still fully clothed.

He turned around and looked at her with a mischievous grin. "You know, I'm going to make sure you catch whatever it is that I have so that *you* will lose your voice. See how you like it," he told her.

"Okay," she said slowly. "And just how am I going to catch it, Josh?"

He thought for a moment and then grinned, laughingly telling her, "Well, it can probably be passed on by kissing."

Donna shot back a joking retort immediately, without thinking. "Hmm, I gotta say, I didn't think you'd ever kiss me for *that* reason." She realized too late where she'd placed the emphasis in her words and Josh raised his eyebrows at her. He crossed the room to stand in front of her as Donna blushed.

"Believe me, neither did I," he said neutrally. She gave him an unreadable look and he elaborated with a grin, "I have a whole other reason for kissing you, but now I can kill two birds with one stone." Donna grew wide-eyed at his words but she didn't back away as he leaned forward. His lips were tantalizingly close to hers and her heart started to race. She closed her eyes automatically and…Josh coughed in her face.

**

The End


	2. Husky

TITLE: "Husky"

RATING: PG-13

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own 'em.

SPOILERS: Through Season 4 - this part is set before the Inauguration.

FEEDBACK: Sure, send it my way

**

"You're looking awfully pleased with yourself this morning, Josh," CJ said as they left the morning Senior Staff meeting. "Feeling better?"

"Indeed I am, CJ. And do you know why?" he replied with a grin.

"Well, I'm assuming it's because you've got rid of your cold completely."

"Oh, yeah, that too." CJ gave him a curious look. "But also because a problem shared is a problem halved." CJ's look showed confusion. "Donna has lost her voice," Josh announced with obvious delight.

"Really?" The question came from Toby, whose interest had now become piqued.

"Yep, she woke up this morning with no voice."

"And I assume you're relishing her problem," CJ stated.

"Oh, you betcha. I've been reveling in it all morning. Payback's a bitch!"

CJ rolled her eyes and Toby gave way to a slight smirk as he entered his office; Josh and CJ continued on towards their offices.

"You are going to play nice, aren't you, Joshua?"

"Why, CJ, what ever do you mean?" Josh asked, using his best 'innocent' voice.

"You know exactly what I mean, Josh."

"Hey, she was the one who coined the phrase 'Frog Boy' and made fun of me," he defended.

"Yes, but she was also the one who looked after you when you actually got sick. If I was her, I'd have left you to take care of yourself, knowing full well you'd never manage that."

Josh was about to retort, but they had reached his bullpen and a staffer thrust a folder into his hands. He became engrossed in its contents as he walked into his office. CJ was about to head for her own office when Josh came back out, snagged her arm and pulled her into his office.

"Watch this," he instructed with a grin. He looked towards the door and yelled, "Hey, Husky, where's my Mexico memo?"

CJ turned sharp eyes on him. "You'd better be meaning *Husky* as in gravelly-voiced and not the animal," she warned.

"Well, I was, but now that you mention it…" he replied with a devious grin, before yelling out again, "Donna, I'm waiting. Mush, mush, Husky." CJ smacked him over the head.

Donna stalked into his office a few moments later, her eyes narrowed. She handed him his memo along with a hastily scribbled note.

"Actually, Josh," he read aloud, "the most common term to get a team of huskies moving is not in fact 'Mush', it is 'Hike'. Now, why don't you take one?" His lips curved into a smirk as he looked at Donna. "Now, Donnatella, that's not a very nice way to talk to your boss, is it?"

Donna produced another piece of paper automatically, having predicted his response. CJ grabbed it before he could read it, and she read it aloud. "You're not a very nice boss!" CJ grinned widely. "Well, I gotta agree with that one."

"Hey, Laurel and Hardy, get out of my office," Josh commanded; he failed to stop a grin appearing on his face.

*

CJ appeared in front of Donna's desk around lunchtime. "Hi, how are you feeling? Is it just your voice that's gone?"

"I thought it was," Donna whispered hoarsely, "but my throat is sore and I have a headache now."

"Do you need some Advil?" CJ asked with concern. "I have some in my office." Donna pointed to a bottle of pills on her desk and CJ nodded. "I assume Josh is still making fun of you?" Donna rolled her eyes. "If it makes you feel any better," CJ continued, "just be thankful you don't have to attend a Senior Staff meeting."

"What happened at that?" Donna rasped.

"Josh didn't tell you?" CJ asked with surprise.

"He said you all laughed, *a lot*, but he didn't elaborate."

"Ah," CJ grinned. "Well, why don't you come to my office for lunch and I will fill you in. Believe me, it will make you feel better." Donna nodded and grabbed a yogurt, following CJ down the corridor.

Once they were settled in CJ's office, Donna on the couch and CJ in a chair, CJ grinned widely as she told Donna about the events of the Staff meeting two days previously, the day Josh had lost his voice.

*Flashback*

"Ah, Josh, glad you could join us," Leo said dryly as Josh finally entered the Chief of Staff's office, closing the door and dropping into a chair.

Toby brought them up to speed on the latest draft of the Inauguration Speech and CJ discussed the stories she would need to cover at the morning briefing, gaining approval on the comments she planned to give. Leo and Toby voiced their agreement while Josh merely nodded his head.

"Frog Boy," CJ said loudly. "Are you in agreement?"

Josh narrowed his eyes as he realized Donna had spoken to CJ. "Yes," he whispered.

"What was that, Frog Boy? I couldn't quite hear you," CJ asked, grinning widely.

"Don't start with me, CJ," he warned, its effect completely ruined by his lack of voice.

"Alright," Leo said seriously, getting their attention again, "as much as I'm enjoying seeing Josh suffer, we do have other items to attend to." He glanced up before continuing and noticed the President standing in the doorway leading from the Oval Office. They all started to stand up but were waved down again.

"Don't get up," the President stated. "I just thought I'd pop in to keep myself up to date." He turned to face Josh. "Josh, how's the Education Bill coming along?"

Josh tried to answer but his warning to CJ had used the last of his voice. He looked to Leo for help but couldn't catch his eye. Struggling to provide an answer, he offered the President a copy of the notes that Donna had prepared.

The President glanced at the top sheet of the notes and then looked curiously at Josh. "Josh, what are you doing?" Josh looked confused. "I don't want to *read* about the Bill status, Josh; I never have time to read these things in detail, you know that. I want to *hear* about it, so please, tell me where we're at." He took a seat at the table and looked to Josh for enlightenment.

"Uh, I…" Josh stammered hoarsely before coughing.

"Why, Josh, is something wrong?" the President asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes and mirth in his voice.

Josh looked around the room, surveying his colleagues, his boss and the President; all of them, even Toby, were stifling laughter.

"Donna! She's gonna regret this," Josh managed to whisper, causing everyone to chuckle.

The President clapped a hand on Josh's back. "Say, Josh, are you busy tonight?" Josh eyed him warily then closed his eyes and shook his head, dreading the next words to be spoken. "Good, I think it's time you and I caught up. I remembered recently that we never did get to finish our discussion from a couple of years ago on National Parks."

A groan escaped from Josh and he looked suitably worried as he looked up. "Tonight, Sir?" he whispered. "Is tonight best? Since I can't really talk and all?"

"I think tonight is *exactly* the right night, Josh," the President replied. "After all, I will have your complete attention; you will be forced to listen rather than interjecting constantly with your supposedly witty remarks." CJ laughed loudly as Josh's face took on a look of panic. "Well, I'll leave you all to your meeting," the President said, standing up and heading to the Oval Office. As he reached the doorway, he turned back to address Josh. "I'll have Debbie call Donna and arrange a time, Josh." The door closed behind him as Josh placed his head in his arms on the table.

"Aww, don't worry, Frog Boy," CJ said, resting a hand on his arm. "I think it's nice that the President wants to spend some time with you; I thought all guys liked 'male bonding'." Josh glanced up for long enough to glare at her before laying his head in his arms again.

By the time the meeting drew to a close, CJ, Leo, and even Toby, had thoroughly mocked Josh. Toby had suggested that the President might be in favor of letting Josh do the press briefing that day and Leo had announced that he was going to grant Donna's request to put up balloons and streamers in Josh's bullpen.

"I hate you all," Josh stated, quietly, as he left the office; he stalked away to the sounds of laughter.

*End of Flashback*

"No wonder he didn't want to tell me," Donna whispered to CJ, gasping from laughter.

Carol knocked on the door at that moment. "Donna, Josh is looking for you. He said to tell you that gossip time is over."

Donna and CJ looked at each other and rolled their eyes but Donna rose from the couch and bid CJ farewell.

*

CJ appeared in Josh's office around 3pm. "Josh?"

He looked up to find her glaring at him and immediately shifted in his seat. "Uh, CJ, what can I do for you?"

"Let Donna go home."

"Huh?"

CJ closed the door and took a seat in the visitor's chair. "Like I said, let Donna go home!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because she's sick."

"Well, I've always known that she's sick, her sense of humor is a dead giveaway, but —"

"Joshua!" CJ was getting annoyed and Josh looked chastened. "She has caught your cold, as you very well know, and I think you should tell her to go home."

"I can't do that," he stated firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because…" he trailed off, knowing exactly what he wanted to say but trying to make sure there were no heavy objects around before he uttered the words. Satisfied he was fairly safe, he said, "Then I won't get the benefit of her not being able to talk; she can't tell me to stop yelling."

"JOSHUA!" CJ roared, stretching across the desk to smack his arm.

"Ow," Josh said meekly, pushing his chair back against the wall.

A thought occurred to CJ and she sat back, looking at him inquisitively. "You know, it's only two days since you lost your voice, and it wasn't until that night that you actually started sneezing. How did Donna get sick so fast?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, normally it takes a few days for these things to be passed around, this seems kinda quick."

"Well, we do work closely together."

"Yes, but you work closely with a few people, one of whom is me. In fact, I worked with you a lot on the afternoon you had lost your voice, when we were reading through the latest draft of the Education Bill, yet I'm not sick."

"Maybe your immune system's better than Donna's," he suggested, shrugging his shoulders. "Also, there is the fact that Donna came over with soup when I actually started *feeling* ill."

"A fact that seems to escape your mind when you're mocking her," CJ pointed out; Josh smirked. "Still, Donna told me that she wasn't there that long; she just gave you some soup and told you to go to bed."

"Yeah, I was pretty exhausted from coughing and sneezing." CJ looked to be in deep thought and Josh let out a loud sigh. "Look, CJ, is there a point to this conversation? I'm kinda busy."

"Yes, the point is, Donna is now sick. She is coughing and sneezing, as well as having no voice, and you need to let her go home."

"She doesn't want to go home," Josh replied. At CJ's raised eyebrows, he explained, "Not once have I heard her say 'Josh, I want to go home'." He smirked as CJ rolled her eyes.

"You really are incredible, Joshua," she said dryly.

"I know, you wouldn't believe how many women tell me that," he grinned.

CJ shook her head and stood up, opening the door and calling for Donna. She entered the office a moment later, looking from CJ to Josh and then back at CJ.

"Donna, I think you should go home," CJ told her softly. Donna became a little alarmed and looked to Josh again.

"She thinks you're incapable," he stated with a grin.

"Josh!" CJ admonished with a glare. She then turned back to Donna. "I think you need to go home and get some sleep, Donna, you look exhausted. If you don't rest now your cold will only get worse."

"I'm okay," Donna whispered. "It's probably just a 24 hour thing, the same as Josh had." 

"That's not the point, you need to rest." Donna shook her head again and CJ glanced at Josh before returning her gaze to Donna. "Don't worry, Josh will survive without you, and if I hear one crack from him about how he managed to work through his cold, I'll kick his ass."

"Hey!" Josh exclaimed, earning him another of CJ's glares; he shut up again.

"Josh?" CJ said, looking at him seriously. He looked confused for a moment and then caught on.

"Donna," he said softly, "it's okay, you can go home. You do look pretty tired."

"I—" Donna's objections were interrupted by a sneeze. CJ guided her to the visitor's chair and handed her a tissue from the box on Josh's desk.

"You're going home, Donna, no arguments," CJ stated. "I don't think you're in any fit state to drive though. Josh, what do you have this afternoon?"

"What?" He was confused again but soon got CJ's meaning when she glared at him. "Oh, uh, I dunno, hang on…" He searched his desk for his schedule, found it and then said, "My next meeting is Senior Staff at six, I have a ton of stuff to read through before then though."

"You're always telling me that you're a highly capable man, Josh; I'm sure you'll manage to drive Donna home and still be able to read through everything when you get back."

He was forming protests in his head but decided it was safer not to voice them. "Fine," he grumbled. "Donna, go get your stuff together, I'll be ready in a minute."

*

Josh drove Donna to her apartment without speaking. He had been tempted to say things several times but, every time he opened his mouth, Donna let out a sigh of irritation and he thought better of it. When he pulled up in front of her building he leaned over to release her seatbelt. Placing a restraining hand on her arm he looked at her seriously for a moment.

"You know, I thought CJ was going to figure it out there for a minute," he said with a smile. "When I first told her you'd lost your voice, I actually stated you'd woken up like that. She looked at me strangely for a moment and I thought she knew that you woke up in my bed this morning." He smiled wistfully and Donna returned the smile. "She then started playing twenty questions with me this afternoon about how you could have caught my cold so fast, since usually these things take a few days; she seemed to give up on it though," he continued. "Just as well, I couldn't have held out much longer. You can't believe how hard it was for me not to tell her that the main reason you're so tired today is because of last night, not because of your cold." Donna blushed at his words and he grinned, letting go of her arm and exiting the car.

*

Donna crawled into bed as soon as she got home, only bothering to remove her shoes; she really was exhausted. Josh took a glass of water into her bedroom and retrieved a box of tissues from the bathroom.

"Are you gonna come over tonight?" Donna whispered hopefully. "To look after me?"

Josh smirked. "What, and run the risk of catching a cold and losing my voice again? Not a chance." Donna threw a pillow at him. "You know," he continued with an even larger smirk, "I would come over, but I think you're too tired to make it worth my while." Donna pouted and he relented, "Actually, I think I will come over, I want revenge."

"Revenge?"

"Well, when you cough in my face, which you undoubtedly will, I want to push you down onto the bed and walk out, like you did to me."

"Did you really think I would let you kiss me after you coughed all over me?"

"No, I guess not," he sighed. "In a way though, I'm kinda glad I didn't kiss you then."

Donna raised her eyebrows. "Really? Why?"

"Well, I was sick, I don't think I would have been able to kiss you with my usual panache." She smirked at him and he knew exactly what she was thinking. "Don't even try to say I don't have panache," he warned. "We both know I do; I think I more than proved that last night."

"You think?" she rasped.

"Oh, I know," he said confidently.

"I think you should be thankful it was just a 24 hour bug you had. Although, you might have told me you were feeling a lot better yesterday afternoon, instead of acting sick so that I'd come over last night and bring you more soup," Donna mock-complained, her voice becoming even weaker.

"Yeah, well, there was an ulterior motive there," he admitted, smiling at her. "I wanted to show you that I'd regained my strength and I didn't think the office was the best place for that."

Their eyes locked for a few moments until Donna finally sighed and said, "You'd better get back to the office, you have reading to do."

"Yeah," Josh acknowledged softly.

"*Are* you going to come over later?" she asked hesitantly; Josh smiled at the uncertainty in her voice.

"Of course I am."

"Will you bring me soup?"

He rolled his eyes. "I suppose so."

"Homemade?" she whispered hopefully.

"Yeah, by the deli I'm gonna stop at."

"Hey, the soup I brought you was homemade!"

"By your roommate," he shot back, laughing openly.

"That's not—" she stopped to sneeze, "— the point."

"Since when do I care about *other people's* points?" he smirked. "I'll see you later, get some rest. If this is a 24 hour bug, like mine was, you should get your rest now 'cos I can guarantee you're gonna need it for what I have planned for tomorrow night, when you're well again."

Donna smiled at him as he leaned down, giving her a lingering kiss. "I thought you were afraid you might catch something?" she said breathlessly as they parted.

"Yeah, but I'm thinking if I get this again they might put us in quarantine together."

"Go to work!"

Josh chuckled as he placed a light kiss on her forehead and left the apartment.

*

Back at the White House, Toby and CJ were having a conversation in his office.

"When are we going to tell them that we know how Donna caught Josh's bug so quickly?" Toby asked CJ with a small smile.

CJ grinned deviously. "Let's see how long it takes them to figure it out. Josh's mouth has been running away from him all day, it's kinda cute how excited he is; I think he's subconsciously desperate for one of us to comment so he can tell us about it." Her grin got bigger as she imparted her plan to Toby. "I think we should just wait it out, let him crack first; it'll be more fun that way."

"Well, it's fine by me," Toby replied, matching her grin with one of his own. "You know, CJ, you're hot when you're devious."

**

The End


	3. Cracked

TITLE: "Cracked"

Disclaimers, etc. as in Chapter 1.

**

"You're looking awfully happy today, Joshua."

"Why, yes, CJ, I am," Josh replied as he followed CJ from the press room to her office.

"And just what is making you so happy?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Nothing in particular," he answered nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders for effect.

"Uh huh," CJ said skeptically. "Hey, how's Donna feeling today? I noticed she was back but haven't had a chance to talk to her. Shouldn't she still be at home? It was only yesterday that she had to go home sick."

"You mean, it was only yesterday that you *forced* her to go home," Josh retorted.

"Are you still hung up on that, Josh?" she asked tiredly. "Really, it was for the best."

"I know," he agreed softly. "If she hadn't gone home yesterday, she probably wouldn't be fit to come back here today."

"Aha," CJ said triumphantly, poking a finger in his chest. "That's why you're happy, because Donna's feeling better and is back at work."

"Something like that," Josh muttered to himself with a smile. He raised his voice again to answer CJ seriously, "I have a ton of stuff to do today and I need Donna to do the research, so, yeah, I'm glad she's back."

"Hmm, so, what can I do for you, Josh?" CJ asked as they entered her office.

"Huh?"

"Josh, you just followed me from the press room, so I'm assuming you wanted to talk to me?"

"Oh, yeah, I just wanted to tell you to dial it back on the Education Bill for the moment; I think we're going to have to make a few more changes before it's ready."

"Okay." Josh didn't make any attempt to move and CJ looked at him strangely. "Anything else, Josh?"

Her words snapped him out of his daze and he met her eyes with a smile. "No, I'll be going now."

*

"Tobus," CJ said, entering Toby's office and closing the door. "It's working."

"What's working?" he asked with irritation. He was redrafting the Inauguration Speech again and it wasn't going well.

"Josh."

That got his attention and he looked up, saying dryly, "Josh is working? Now, that's something for the record books." CJ chuckled and felt herself smirk.

"I'll tell him you said that; I'm sure he'll be delighted that you think so much of the effort he's putting into the Education Bill. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about."

"I do?" Toby looked at her blankly.

"Yes, you do." The blank look was still there. "Josh and Donna. He very nearly admitted it to me this morning."

"CJ, do I need to know about this?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I thought you liked it when I'm being devious?"

"You're not being devious," Toby stated dryly, "you're being annoying."

"I'm being devious!"

Toby sat back in his chair and gave CJ his full attention. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'm being devious and it's getting to Josh. I know he wants to tell me but something's holding him back; I don't know what that is though."

"Maybe the fact that he's scared of you?" Toby suggested with a slight grin.

"You might have a point," CJ conceded, though she still fixed him with a glare.

"I always have a point, and if you people would actually deign to listen to me –"

"Toby?" CJ interrupted.

"Yes?"

"Shut up!"

Toby chuckled quietly, knowing he was managing to irritate her. "Why don't you just ask Josh straight out?"

"Where's the fun in that, Toby? I thought we agreed to wait it out, let him crack."

"Yes, we did, and I will still go along with that plan, as long as it doesn't involve me having to listen to you gloat constantly about Josh *nearly* cracking; come back to me once he's spilled his guts."

"Toby!" CJ admonished. "I know you don't mean that."

"You want a bet?"

"Actually, I might," she replied seriously; Toby gave her a curious look. "I bet you that Josh will crack by the end of the day."

"With or without intervention by you?"

"Well, that depends on your interpretation of *intervention*," she answered slyly.

"CJ, what do you have in mind?" His tone was full of suspicion, but his eyes betrayed his intrigue.

She shook her head. "Do we have a bet?" she asked pointedly.

"How much?"

"Fifty bucks."

"Do I get to set the rules?"

"No."

"CJ, if I don't get to set the rules there is no bet. I really have little interest in this, I just like seeing Josh squirm and if I can make money out of it, that's an added bonus."

"I'm sure I can interest someone else in taking the bet," CJ stated through a smile.

"Like who?"  
  
"Hmm…Leo, the President, the First Lady…" she trailed off, grinning widely.

"I doubt it. They have no idea what's going on and I don't think you want to be the one to tell them; I know you're saving that task for Josh."

CJ narrowed her eyes, knowing Toby had a point but unwilling to admit defeat. "Do we have a bet or not?"

"Do I get to set the rules or not?"

"What are the rules?"

"Uh uh," Toby replied, shaking his head. "First, agree to the bet and then I'll tell you the rules."

"No way," CJ objected. "The bet was my idea in the first place, I want to know the rules first."

"Alright," Toby grudgingly agreed, stroking his beard and thinking. CJ took a seat on the couch and tapped her foot impatiently. "First, you can't ask him straight out if he and Donna are dating—"

"Like I'd do that anyway," CJ interrupted.

"I just want to make it clear; my definition of cracking is for Josh to tell you that he is seeing Donna, without being asked directly."

"Okay," she agreed.

"Second, there has to be a witness."

"Toby, I can't do that. We can't let anyone else know about this until Leo and the President have been informed."

"So, have one of them as a witness," he suggested, earning himself a glare from CJ. She then thought about the suggestion some more and grinned.

"That's not a bad idea. That way, I'll get to be in the room when Josh tells them, which makes it more fun for me; getting details of their reaction second-hand won't be nearly as good."

"Okay, well that's settled then," Toby agreed, "rule number two is that either Leo or the President has to be with you when Josh cracks."

"Wait, it's a *rule* now? I thought it was just a suggestion but I could have any witness."

"You just said yourself that you can't have anyone else as a witness," Toby pointed out.

"I could have used you," she replied.

"Too bad, rule number two will stand," he smirked. "Rule number three is that you cannot inform either Leo or the President of what you are planning, or of our bet. If I find out you let them in on it, you lose the money. In fact, you'll have to pay me double in that instance."

"That's hardly fair," she protested. Toby just shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, well, in that case, I think we should up the ante," CJ proposed.

"To how much?"

"A hundred bucks." Toby nodded. "And, you'll have to take me out to dinner when I win," she added.

"And if I win?"

"Well, that's not going to happen so we don't need to consider that."

"CJ."

"Oh, alright. If you win, I will take you out to dinner." Toby gave her a pointed look. "Okay, I'll take you to a bar and I'll pay the tab."

"That's better, I'm in agreement."

"So, we have a bet?" she asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Toby replied.

CJ's shoulders slumped. "What now?"

"There are more rules."

"More! Toby!"

Toby continued amidst CJ's protests. "Rule number four…you can't drop any hints to Josh that you already know and you can't start playing twenty questions with him again to get him to make an admission."

"What?! How the hell am I supposed to do this then?"

"That's your problem. Now, do we have a bet?"

"Fine," she grudgingly concurred. "But first, I have a rule of my own." Toby raised his eyebrows. "You can't tell Josh, or drop any hints, about the fact that I already know. If I find out that you've told him about our bet, you will owe *me* double the money and dinner. Okay?"

"It's a bet," Toby agreed, standing up and stretching out his hand. CJ stood up to clasp his hand in hers and then tightened her grip until he grimaced. "CJ, could you let go of my hand now?"

"I'm just showing you that you shouldn't try to mess with me, Tobus. I have ways of getting revenge; I can hurt you."

*

CJ left Toby's office and headed for her own, purposely passing through Josh's bullpen area along the way. Noticing that Donna wasn't at her desk, she popped her head around Josh's slightly ajar office door.

"Hi guys, what's up?"

Josh and Donna both looked up suddenly. Donna was once again sitting at Josh's computer and Josh was standing over her, watching her type, with his hands resting on the back of the chair, almost touching her shoulders.

"Nothing," Josh replied, with both a guilty look on his face and an uncomfortable tone in his voice, as he dropped his hands to his sides.

"Really?" CJ asked disbelievingly, stepping fully into the office and striding towards the computer. Donna hurriedly hit 'alt-tab' and the screen contents switched to Josh's e-mail.

"We're, uh…" Josh glanced at the monitor and finished his sentence, "checking my e-mail."

"Anything interesting?" CJ inquired, managing to hide her smile.

"No, you know, just the usual," Donna replied when Josh looked at her helplessly. "Josh just seems to have forgotten how to type again; I'm sure he's trying to get me back for taking time off yesterday."

Josh narrowed his eyes at Donna and CJ let out a laugh. "Well, remember, I'm still available to kick his ass," she offered.

"Don't worry, I think I've got that covered," Donna laughed. Josh rolled his eyes at them both but looked a little frightened.

"Do you need anything, CJ?" Josh asked, trying to steer the conversation to safer ground, instead of its current course that could result in bodily harm to him.

"Not really, I was just passing," CJ shrugged. "I'll leave you to get back to your…e-mail," she said with a grin, conveying that she didn't believe their story. Donna glanced up at Josh to find him staring down at her with a slightly flustered expression.

"Okay, thanks, CJ. We'll see you later," Donna smiled, taking control of the situation.

"Yeah, should I close the door on my way out?" CJ asked mischievously, almost failing to restrain her laughter as Josh's flustered look increased.

"No, that's okay," Donna replied. CJ merely nodded at them and left, leaving the door completely open.

"Do you think she knows?" Josh asked Donna quietly as soon as CJ left.

"I don't think so," she replied, sounding unsure. "Should I switch back now?" Josh nodded and she hit 'alt-tab' again a few times until she got back to the Internet screen they had been looking at previously.

"Is anything available?" Josh inquired, leaning over the back of Donna's chair and placing his hands on either side of the computer, his head next to hers.

"I don't know yet, CJ came in just as I was going to put in the date we decided on."

"Well, hurry up," Josh requested impatiently. "Before someone else comes in."

Donna let out a sigh and leaned back in the chair to look at him properly. "Why don't you close the door?" she suggested.

"What, after we just told CJ it wasn't necessary, that's going to look really good, isn't it?"

"In that case, would you shut up, stop breathing down my neck and let me finish this?" she demanded, her patience waning.

"Okay," Josh replied meekly, removing his arms and taking a step back.

*

"So, CJ, how's it going?" Toby asked that afternoon; he was waiting for her as she exited the press room after her briefing. "Do I need to visit an ATM to get some cash out, or will I be making a deposit instead?"

"Shut up."

"Now, CJ, that's not very…" he trailed off.

"What?! It's not very what?" CJ demanded, stopping in the corridor and turning to face him.

"Well, I was going to say nice. Am I to assume you're having a few problems getting Josh to crack?"

"Shut up," CJ repeated.

"You had to expect it, CJ. After all, he's a politician, he's good at being evasive."

"Toby, you know as well as I do that Josh is hopeless at being evasive about certain things. He will crack by the end of the day, mark my words."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay," Toby smiled.

"I'm telling you, Toby, he'll crack. He's bouncing around, all excited and happy. I'm sure he would have cracked earlier but Donna seems to be reigning him in, keeping him under control. I'll get him though." A thought occurred to her and she fixed him with a pointed look. "Why are you here? You said earlier that you really weren't interested in this, that you didn't want to hear about it again until it was done, so, why are you here?"

"Well, I might have said I didn't want to hear about *you* gloating about it being done, but I figured I could get some free entertainment by gloating about the fact that it's not done yet," he admitted with a small smirk.

"Go away from me," CJ ordered.

*

CJ bumped into Josh a few times throughout the afternoon and each time he nearly gave himself away as he bounced around and grinned to himself. CJ never actually commented on it, due to Toby's rules, but she raised her eyebrows a few times; Josh's reaction to this was to go on the defensive, immediately thinking he'd done something wrong. This amused CJ greatly and she was almost glad Toby had enforced the rules; not *saying* anything was fun and he had never set a rule about not looking pointedly at Josh to make him crack. Although CJ wasn't a lawyer, she knew how to play the game with the best of them and she smiled smugly to herself as she plotted her next move.

*

"So, Donnatella," Josh murmured quietly as she dropped a folder beside him on his desk later in the day, "are you back to full strength yet?"

He swung his chair around to face her and the look in his eyes caused Donna's heart to race. She stood still, her legs brushing against his knees, and looked at him intently. "I'm feeling a lot better, yes," she replied, her voice calm and composed, the opposite of how she was feeling at that moment; she knew full well what Josh was going to say next.

"That's just as well," he said, his dimples out in full force. He widened his legs a little and wheeled his chair forward so that Donna was now standing between his knees. "Because," he continued, his voice gravelly, with a tone full of meaning, "I have plans for us tonight."

"Josh?" CJ's voice reminded them of their surroundings and they shared a panicked glance as they silently wondered how long CJ had been in the office; Josh automatically wheeled his seat back a few inches. "Have you got a minute?" CJ asked, her tone neutral and her face housing an indecipherable look.

"Uh, sure," he replied, dragging his gaze from Donna to CJ. Donna felt a blush rising in her cheeks and she hurriedly left the office, casting Josh an anxious glance as she closed the door. Josh rubbed a hand over his face and then through his hair to settle on the back of his neck as he watched CJ closely, looking for signs of what she had seen and heard.

CJ said nothing, but she fixed an inquisitive look upon Josh. After a few moments, agonizing moments for Josh, she simply said, "We need to go and see Leo."

Josh sat up straight and looked at her with a face full of nervousness, which he was desperately trying to mask. "Why?" CJ didn't reply; she just gave him another unreadable look and led the way from his office to Leo's, passing a clearly anxious Donna along the way.

*

CJ entered Leo's office first, followed by Josh, and found that Leo wasn't there. However, she quickly spotted him through the open door to the Oval Office and he acknowledged her with a nod.

"CJ, Josh, come through," Leo instructed. CJ nodded and Josh swallowed hard as they walked through the doorway.

They waited whilst Leo and the President finished their conversation and took a seat when the President motioned for them to do so. After a few moments, the President noticed that Josh was fidgeting more than usual and wondered what was wrong, but decided not to ask.

"Ah, Josh, I believe you want to dial back the rhetoric on the Education Bill," the President said instead.

Josh looked surprised. "You mean, that's what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes, why, what else is there?"

"Uh, nothing," Josh replied feebly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes?" Josh's answer came out as more of a question and the President fixed inquisitive eyes on him.

"Is there anything you want to tell me, Josh?" the President asked seriously. Josh shook his head and the President continued, "Do you want to talk to me alone? Or, do you want to talk to Leo? You seem worried."

"No, there's nothing, I'm fine," Josh stated, trying to sound convincing.

"Josh, how's Donna?" Leo's question came out-of-the-blue and immediately put Josh back on the defensive.

"She's fine, why?"

"She's got rid of the cold she had yesterday?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I think it was a 24 hour thing, the same as I had." Leo nodded.

"So, the Education Bill…" Leo prompted. Josh took the hint and explained his reasons for cooling things for a little while. He quickly gained the agreement of Leo and the President and breathed a sigh of relief that he could escape to his office, his safe haven.

"You know, Josh, I'm kinda disappointed that you're not sick anymore," the President said with amusement as Josh started to stand.

Josh furrowed his brow and let out an elegant, "Huh?"

"Well, you're so much easier to tease when you're ill."

"You're right, Sir," CJ chimed in. "Maybe we need to tell Donna not to take such good care of him. I'm sure we could have handled a quiet Josh for a while longer."

Josh narrowed his eyes at the mocking, forming retorts in his head. However, the President spoke again before Josh could voice anything. "I always knew Donna was dedicated," the President said, "and I know they say that passing a cold to someone else makes you feel better, but I never expected Donna to willingly take your cold so that you could get back to full strength."

Josh felt his lips form a smug smirk at the President's words and he couldn't remove it from his face, no matter how hard he tried; he kept thinking about how Donna had got his cold and why she was happy to have him back at full strength.

"I wouldn't have thought she took his cold willingly, Sir," CJ pointed out. Josh felt heat rising in his cheeks, surprising him, as he was not a person to blush easily. He dipped his head to avoid the gazes of his companions but knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

"True, CJ," the President agreed. He directed his attention to Josh. "Just how much punishment is Donna intending to subject you to, Josh?"

"Hopefully, lots," Josh replied automatically, inwardly kicking himself as soon as he uttered the words.

"Really?" It was Leo who pounced on his statement. "You're looking forward to being punished? Just what does Donna have in store for you?" he asked pointedly. Leo, the President and CJ were all still seated and Josh started to pace around the room, trying to avoid making eye contact with any of them.

"Uh, I don't know…she prefers to surprise me."

"Didn't her last punishment for you involve dying your favorite Harvard sweatshirt pink?" CJ asked with a grin.

"Yes," Josh admitted, finally standing still and then opting to take a seat on the couch opposite Leo and CJ; the President was in a side chair.

"What was that for?" the President inquired, laughing as he imagined Josh's face when he saw the sweatshirt.

"I stole her bagel."

"Josh, I think giving her a cold and making her lose her voice are rather more serious than stealing a bagel. Why are you not worried about her retribution?" Leo asked, raising his eyebrows and staring hard at Josh.

"Uh, I…" Josh shrugged, his mind running through possible answers. For once, he was unable to think of anything and he settled for, "Things change." He watched their faces register his words and he could almost see the recognition appearing in their eyes.

"Josh, are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?" Leo queried gently.

Josh considered lying again, but knew he had revealed too much; he thought back to Sam's words from years previously about his 'lousy poker face' and he smiled at Leo.

"Like what?" he replied, deciding not to give in too easily.

"Are you dating Donna?" Leo asked bluntly.

"Yes," Josh admitted, his face splitting into a large smile; it felt good to admit it, even though he was still nervous about the reactions of the people in the room.

"I was *so* right," CJ announced with glee, smacking her hand on the arm of the couch. Josh glanced up at her, looking stunned.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

"I knew you and Donna were together," she stated.

"How did you know? We weren't that obvious."

"I have my ways," CJ replied cryptically.

Leo decided to interrupt CJ's triumphant celebration and question Josh some more. "How long has this being going on?"

"Since the night before Donna lost her voice."

"A couple of days?" the President clarified. Josh nodded silently. "Why didn't you tell us before? I know it's only been a couple of days, but I thought you would have come to us immediately with this; you seemed nervous about telling us, did you think we'd object?"

"Not really," Josh replied quietly, holding the President's gaze. "We didn't want anyone to know until after the Inauguration."

"Why not?" CJ asked, genuinely confused.

"We didn't want to take any focus away from that. I know that might sound egotistical," he explained, scowling as he saw Leo, CJ and the President give him looks which clearly stated they always thought he was egotistical, "but I also know that there's bound to be something written about us in the press. Good or bad, that's going to take some attention away from the Inauguration; we don't want to do that."

"Do you think you can keep quiet about it until then?" Leo asked pointedly. "It didn't take us long to figure it out."  
  
"Yeah, I'm still wondering what gave us away, I'm sure it must have been Donna." CJ raised her eyebrows and Josh rethought his statement, "Uh, I think we should just forget I said that," he said hopefully. CJ smiled devilishly and Josh gulped. "Anyway, in answer to your question, yes, I think we can keep quiet about it until then. We're going to be working even longer hours than normal for the next week until the Inauguration is over."

"Donna's going to be your date to the Inaugural balls?" Leo guessed. Josh confirmed it with a nod. "Well, everyone will find out about you then, that's for sure. Can you both handle that?"

"We'll be fine," Josh assured him confidently.

"Okay." Leo looked to the President.

"Josh, if Donna wants to date you, all I can say is, you're a very lucky man," the President grinned.

"I know," Josh said seriously.

"And I'm now doubting Donna's sanity. Leo, is it really wise to have someone that crazy working in such an important position?"

"She can handle Josh, Sir," Leo replied with a smirk. "Really, she's smarter than the rest of us."

"True." Josh mock-scowled at them all as they laughed at him but he soon chuckled along. "Okay, well, just do what you've been doing, Josh, and if anyone finds out before Inauguration we'll deal with it then," the President stated.

*

"It is done!" CJ proclaimed jubilantly as she wandered into Toby's office. "And, I didn't break any rules."

Toby looked skeptical and CJ launched into the tale of how Josh finally cracked and admitted he and Donna were dating.

"CJ, he was asked directly if he and Donna were dating; that's against the rules," Toby pointed out as she finished the story.

"Ah, but *I* didn't ask him, so the rule was not broken," she grinned.

"You must have hinted that you already knew," he grumbled.

"I didn't. Ask Leo or the President, they'll back me up. I used my skill as a communicator to get Josh to the place I wanted him to be. Yes, I was involved in *setting the scene* for Leo or the President to guess, but I did not drop any real hints so, no rules were broken. Time to pay up," she finished elatedly, holding out her hand for the money.

"As much as it pains me to admit this, CJ, you're good."

"I know," she smirked.

*

Josh and CJ walked back to their offices together after the evening Staff meeting, talking quietly. They arrived in Josh's bullpen to find Carol standing by Donna's empty desk.

"Ah, Josh, I just took a message for you," Carol informed him.

"Where's Donna?" he asked, his eyes scouring the bullpen.

"She had to go and get something to eat, her stomach rumblings were getting pretty loud. I said I'd man the phones for a few minutes since most people have disappeared."

"Okay, what's the message?"

"A reservations agent from 'Travel.com' called to tell you that they've made your booking." Josh tried to signal that Carol should stop there but she ignored him and continued. "Two rooms have been booked at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the names of J. Lyman and D. Moss and the deposits will be charged to your credit card."

CJ turned to stare at Josh, looking for an explanation, but he just shrugged and thanked Carol before entering his office and closing the door.

*

"Josh, you okay?" Donna asked when she returned from the Mess, stepping into his office and closing the door. She'd got back to find a note from Carol saying that Josh was back and that he probably wanted to see her.

He looked up at her and smiled. "Hey, did you get something to eat?"

"Yeah, I got you something too." She dropped a bag onto his desk and he opened it to find a bagel.

"There was a call while you were gone," he said quietly. Donna looked at him questioningly and he filled her in on the message Carol had passed onto him.

"You mean, CJ heard?" Donna asked, her tone a little panicked.

"Yeah."

"So, what do we…" she trailed off, her arms flying around.

"Do?" he finished for her. "Nothing."

"Josh, we can't do *nothing*," Donna stated incredulously. "If CJ—"

"Donna, it'll be fine. We're just going to continue on with what we've planned; it'll be fine," he assured, smiling at her and standing up to beckon her closer. She walked into his open arms and accepted his kiss eagerly. "We're going to do this *our* way," he declared firmly.

*

"Leo!" the President said joyfully, entering the Chief of Staff's office through their adjoining door after the evening meeting. "Just the person I was hunting for."  
  
"Well, you didn't exactly have to *hunt* very far, Sir. My office is right next door to yours," Leo pointed out.

"Cut the crap, Leo. Pay up," the President ordered, stretching his hand out.

"Sir?"  
  
"You owe me a hundred dollars."

"I do?" Leo questioned.

"Yes, you do. I was right about Josh and Donna."

"We were both right, we both said they'd get together."

"Yes, but we bet on *when*, Leo, and I was right; they're already together."

"Sir, we made the bet two days ago, what did you know that I didn't?"

"Leo, I know lots of things that you don't. The tonnage of what I know—"

"Mr President, did you know that they were together when we made the bet?" Leo accused.

"No. You saw Josh in there," he said, motioning towards the Oval Office. "He was stunned that anyone knew."

"So, what gave them away?"

"Nothing really, I just used my 'little grey cells' to figure it out. In fact, you could call me Hercule Poirot."

"I don't think I'll do that, Sir. Seriously, how did you know?" Leo pressed.

"Give me the money and then I'll tell you."

Leo narrowed his eyes but handed over the hundred dollars that he'd just lost. "So?" he prompted.

"I heard Toby and CJ talking the other day, they were suspicious that Josh and Donna had got together."

"That's cheating," Leo stated, trying to take back his money.

"No, it's being in the right place at the right time."

"How did they not know you were there? Everywhere you go you have an entourage. You haven't got the place bugged, have you?"

"Unfortunately not, although I keep requesting that. I have stealth, Leo."

"Charlie told you, didn't he?" Leo guessed. The President didn't reply; he merely grinned. Leo rolled his eyes, knowing he'd just been 'had' by his old friend.

**

The End

In the next part of the series – just what do Josh and Donna have planned? Feel free to send your guesses. g


	4. Revealed

TITLE: "Revealed"

Disclaimers, etc. as in Part 1. 

**

"Thank you for the flowers, Josh," Donna said softly as she walked into his office. He looked up and locked his smiling eyes with hers.

"You're welcome."  
  
"You're early though; it's not even February, never mind April."

"I don't like to be predictable," he told her with a nonchalant shrug, adding gently, "Anyway, you know what they're for." He noticed she'd left the office door open and gave her a curious look.

"CJ's wandering around out there," she informed him. "I figured I'd better leave it open. Anyway, here's your schedule."

She talked him through the plan of events for his day while she sat in the visitor's chair. They both acknowledged CJ when she popped her head in the door to say hello, but they were engrossed in a discussion about how long Donna should wait before paging Josh to get him out of his meeting on the Hill, therefore, they didn't actually talk to her.

*

Josh arrived at the morning Staff meeting feeling incredibly happy and pleased with himself. It had been two days since he'd admitted in the Oval Office that he and Donna were dating and no-one else had found out since then, except for the people they had consciously told, i.e. Toby and the assistants to the Senior Staff.

As the meeting drew to a close, CJ decided to tackle him with a question that had been on her mind since she had passed the bullpen on her arrival at work. "Josh, who gave Donna the flowers on her desk?"

"I did," he replied with a smug smile.

"Why?"

"Am I not allowed to give my girlfriend flowers, CJ? I thought all you women liked that kind of thing?"

CJ raised her eyebrows skeptically. "What's the *real* reason, Josh? Did you piss her off already?"

"No!" he scowled. "I sent her the flowers as a way of formally asking her to the Inaugural Ball. I wanted to find a special way to invite her since it's going to be a *very special* night."

"Very special?" CJ repeated. Keeping her tone neutral, she added, "Is that because you're going to reveal your relationship to the press?"

Josh nodded his head and muttered to himself, "That's part of the plan, but not the *special* part". CJ gave him a look, as if she'd heard his comment, and he quickly dipped his head.

"Are you and Donna ready for whatever will be thrown at you, Josh? I don't think that much will be said, but you should be prepared," Leo said.

"We're ready. We know how much we mean to each other and we're ready to show everyone else." CJ stared at Josh questioningly when he finished speaking but he said nothing more, he just gave her a smile that lit up his whole face. CJ glanced at Toby furtively and he gave her a curt nod to indicate he'd noticed Josh's demeanor as well.

*

"Toby, I'm telling you, I heard it with my own ears."  
  
"As opposed to someone else's ears, CJ?" Toby smirked.

"Shut up!" She glared at him for a moment and then remembered why she was in his office. "What are we going to do?"

"About what?" he asked calmly, waiting for her to explode.

"*About what*?" she burst out. "Are you not *listening* to me? Josh and Donna are planning to get married!"

"How can you be so sure? Have you asked them?"

"Toby! A woman can sense these things."

"Did you ask a woman?" he inquired with a large grin, leaning back to avoid CJ's hand as she reached out to punch him in the arm. "CJ, are you really *sure* about this? I can't see Josh being that stupid; he and Donna have only been dating for a few days."

"Josh is *exactly* that stupid. I'm telling you, Toby; they're planning to get married in Las Vegas a couple of days after the Inauguration."

"Okay, I really haven't heard enough evidence to support that theory yet, CJ."  
  
"You want me to state my case?" she asked with a sigh. Toby nodded and CJ gathered her thoughts. "Alright, well firstly, there's the Las Vegas trip. I told you what the reservations clerk told Carol; they're booked into the MGM Grand for three nights, starting the day after Inauguration. Las Vegas is a really easy place to get married quickly, and they need it to be quick so that they don't get press attention."

"And there's your first problem," Toby stated. CJ looked confused and he elaborated. "They have *two* rooms booked. Why would they do that if they were going to get married? Of course, I can't understand why they'd book two rooms anyway; we all know Donna's been at Josh's place every night since they got together."

"The two rooms is the thing that makes me believe they're getting married," CJ told him. "It's tradition for the bride and groom not to see each other the night before the wedding, so, they need separate rooms." Toby nodded his head slowly, showing he was beginning to believe her but still wasn't sure. "Okay, I have more reasons," she continued. "I overheard Donna talking to Josh's mom on the phone yesterday. Donna said, 'Yes, it's all in hand. I'm sorry you can't be there as well but it has to be this way, we can't get the time here.' What else could that be about, Toby? They're obviously apologizing for not having her at the wedding." Toby still looked skeptical. "Also, did you see how close they were last night when we were all going over the Inauguration Speech? They couldn't take their eyes off each other. Then, there was his smile in the Senior Staff meeting this morning, I know you caught that."

"Yes, I did," Toby admitted.

"I've *never* seen him smile like that, Toby. I think they plan to show everyone else how much they mean to each other by getting married."

"I'm still not convinced, CJ, but, if you're right, what do you suggest we do?"

"We can't do anything," she admitted glumly. "If this is how they want to do this then we have to respect that. I desperately want to be a part of this, they're two of my closest friends, but they must have their reasons; we can't let them know that we know."

"I agree with that," Toby said. "The press will be hounding them after the Inauguration though."  
  
"I know. I think that's probably why they're flying to Vegas the next day, to get away while they can. When they come back married, it's going to put a whole different spin on the stories." She looked at him seriously for a moment. "We should keep quiet, let them come and tell us when, or if, they want to."

"Yes," Toby agreed.

*

When the Senior Staff met with the President three days before Inauguration, he decided to have a little 'down time', time to catch up with them all.

"So, what do you all have planned for your time off after the Inauguration?" he asked, glancing at each person in turn.

Amazingly, Toby was the first one to speak. "Andi and I are going to look at baby stuff, you know, strollers, cribs and stuff."

Will told them he was going back to California for a few days, and CJ said she was planning to decorate her apartment. Leo, on the other hand, stated that he would be in the White House, working.

"Leo, don't you ever take a day off?" the President asked exasperatedly. "I'm going to be in Manchester. What's so important that you can't join us there?"

"Someone should be here, Sir."

"Josh, what about you, what are you doing?" The President looked at Josh closely as he asked his question.

"Uh, Donna and I have plans, Sir," he replied quietly.

"What sort of plans?" the President pressed. CJ and Toby instinctively leaned forward in their seats, watching Josh intensely.

"Just plans." He then dipped his head and smiled to himself as he muttered, "Big, important plans." CJ, sitting next to Josh, easily heard his words and shared a glance with Toby, who was sitting on the other side of Josh.

*

"I can't believe I'm saying this, CJ, but I think you're right," Toby confessed as he appeared in CJ's office after the meeting.

"I'm always right, but what in particular am I right about this time?"  
  
"Josh and Donna…the marriage thing."  
  
"What convinced you?"

"His comment to himself in the meeting about his 'big, important plans'."

"Yeah, he's doing his excited thing again, where he lets his mouth run away from him; he doesn't even seem to realize he's doing it."

"Do you still think we should keep quiet about knowing?" Toby asked seriously.

"Yeah, I think we have to. Even though we're both convinced, it's still the same situation as before. I think I might say something to them at one of the Inaugural balls though; just drop a hint."

Toby nodded his agreement as he left the office.

*

The President had asked to see all the Senior Staff and their assistants in the Oval Office the morning after the Inauguration. He was flying to Manchester at 10am and had requested everyone to be there by 9. They arrived in their respective offices in dribs and drabs, all fighting to keep their eyes open as result of the previous late night attending the various balls.

"How come you didn't talk to Josh and Donna last night?" Toby asked CJ, as he met her in her office; CJ had promised him coffee if he helped to keep her awake during the President's meeting.

"I talked to Josh and Donna a lot last night," CJ smirked.

"CJ. You know what I mean. Why didn't you talk to them about…the Vegas trip?"

"I was going to, but I decided that since we're all here this morning, they might decide to tell us themselves, while we're with the President."

"And if they don't?"

"I'll try and catch them before they leave."  
  
Toby accepted that and gratefully received the cup of coffee that CJ passed to him as they headed towards the Oval Office.

*

"I know you're all tired," the President told the assembled staff in the Oval Office. All the assistants were sitting on the couches, with their bosses standing behind them, while the President sat in a side chair, with Charlie and Abbey standing either side of him. "But, I just wanted a chance to thank you all again for the hard work you've put in to make this happen…our second term; there were too many people around last night to do that properly. Each of you has contributed to this administration in more ways than I can count," he continued, smiling at each person in turn; his smile grew as he noticed Josh's hands resting on Donna's shoulders, her left hand stretched up to cover his. "Today is really the official start of the new term and I just want to thank you all in advance for the hard work and effort I am sure you will put in during the next four years. You have all sacrificed a lot and I just want you to know that I know that, and I appreciate it, more than I can ever say." He drew to a close and stood up. Everyone followed suit and he walked around the room, shaking hands with the men and kissing the hands of the women. "Now, does anyone have anything they'd like to say?" he asked as he stood by his seat.

After a few moments of silence, Josh spoke up. "Yes, I do." CJ and Toby shared a glance as everyone else watched Josh put his arm around Donna's waist and pull her close to his side. "I just want to thank *you*, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. Working for you, and with you, has been the most incredible experience of my life and I look forward to the next four years, where we can build on what we have already achieved." He turned to look at Donna, gazing into her eyes for a moment before turning his attention back to the assembly. "I also thank you because working for you has given me the opportunity to meet Donna, without whom, I would be lost." Donna blushed and Josh chuckled slightly, leaning in to give her a gentle, brief kiss.

CJ waited eagerly for him to continue, expecting him to reveal their wedding plans but he remained silent. Leo took up the baton and re-iterated what Josh had said about working for the President; his sentiments were echoed by everyone else in the room.

The informal meeting ended and the President wished everyone the best for their vacations, telling them all that he didn't want to read about them in the press so they were expected to behave. The look that passed between Toby and CJ at those words did not go unnoticed by Leo, but he said nothing.

*

Josh and Donna took advantage of CJ organizing the members of the press corps that were following the President to Air Force One; they left the White House quietly and immediately headed for the airport. CJ considered calling Josh's cellphone but decided that if they had wanted to talk to her about their plans, they would have. Instead, she planned to call the MGM Grand the following day and arrange for flowers and champagne to be sent to their rooms, letting them know that she knew what they were doing.

*

As dusk fell, CJ heard the beep of her fax machine, signaling a new message had arrived. She wandered into her living room from the kitchen and looked at the piece of paper lying at the front of the fax machine. Her eyes took in the words and she let out a gasp of astonishment, then narrowed her eyes in anger and finally started to laugh heartily.

"I'm going to *kill* them," she muttered to herself, reading the fax again.

****

CJ,

As you will be able to tell from the area code on the fax header, I'm not in Las Vegas. In fact, I'm nowhere near there – I'm in Vermont. Donna and I are spending a few days in a quiet mountain lodge resort, by ourselves, and we are most definitely not getting married!!! g If you don't believe me, call the MGM Grand – they will tell you that I cancelled our rooms about an hour ago. I had to forfeit our deposits and Donna is complaining about the loss of the hundred bucks (even though I'm paying for us both) but I told her it was worth it – I just wish I was there to see your face right now!!

Why did I do this? Well, let's just say, I'm a Master Politician. Did you really think that I didn't know you knew about Donna and I being together before I admitted it in the Oval Office? We were making our Las Vegas reservations on the Internet when you walked into my office that very morning – we had already planned this. I have a feeling that you and Toby had a bet about making me 'crack' because I know you would have confronted me about your suspicions otherwise. We actually thought you were going to ask us about the Vegas trip when Carol ended up taking the phone message about it. When you didn't, we decided that you were looking for more evidence, so we decided to give you it, hence my little mutterings that I know you heard. I was surprised that you didn't ask us what was going on after that, but then I realized that you were respecting what you thought were our wishes, i.e. to get married in secret (well, okay, I admit it – Donna realized that and pointed it out to me).

On a serious note though, I have to admit that I'm glad you know I'm committed enough to Donna to want to get married – I know you would never have fallen for our ploy if you didn't believe that. I am that committed, but we're not ready, yet! When we get to that point, I promise you; you will be one of the first to know.

By the way, don't try to call to yell at us for this – both of our cellphones are switched off and if you beep me for something that's not an emergency, I will get revenge. The next few days are for Donna and I; I want to prove that I'm an outdoorsman, although, I think Donna has other things planned for me – can't say I'm gonna argue with her though. g

I know Toby fell for this as well – I also know he's going to kill you for convincing him. Therefore, you can have the pleasurable task of telling him that you've both been played – that will teach you to mess with the Master!!

See you in a few days,

Josh (and Donna)

****

CJ couldn't help laughing, but she was kicking herself for falling for Josh's prank; she knew he would gloat about it for a long time to come. She wondered how to inform Toby of the developments and decided it was best not to tell him either face-to-face or over the phone – he could yell at her with both of those methods. An idea occurred to her and she grabbed her cellphone.

*

"Toby, are you okay?" asked a surprised Andi; she had walked into her living room to find Toby sitting on the couch, almost doubled-over with laughter.

"Yes, I'm fine," he gasped, clutching his stomach to soothe the ache that was there from laughing so hard.

"What's going on?"

"Read this," he said, handing her his cellphone. Andi took it and read the SMS message on the screen. "Josh sent me a fax – from Vermont," Andi read aloud. "We've been played." She looked at Toby curiously. "What does this mean?"

Toby finally stopped laughing and met her eyes. "I can't believe I'm finding this so funny; I should be thinking of ways to wring Josh's neck but, I have to admit, he got us good."

He filled Andi in on the whole Las Vegas story and soon the two of them were sitting side-by-side on the couch, laughing hard and loud.

*

Leo was at the White House, working, when an intern entered his office to hand him a fax; Margaret had taken the day off after much persuasion by Leo. He read the message and grinned. The fax simply said, "It worked! I've faxed CJ and she can tell Toby! Josh." Leo started laughing as he imagined CJ's face when Josh informed her of his real location and he almost regretted Josh's agreement to not tell CJ and Toby that Leo had been a part of the plan; Leo wanted the opportunity to tell them that himself.

*

"What's so funny?" Abbey Bartlet asked her husband; she had entered the study of their Manchester farmhouse to find him reading a piece of paper and chuckling to himself. He passed the paper to her; it was a fax from Josh, identical to the one he had sent to Leo. "What's this about, Jed?" Abbey asked suspiciously.

"Josh and Donna played a prank on CJ and Toby. They made CJ think that they were planning to go to Las Vegas and get married while they're on vacation and we're pretty sure that CJ convinced Toby that her suspicions were correct. They wouldn't have been able to get the prank to work if Leo and I hadn't helped," he informed her proudly.

"What did you do?"

Jed told Abbey about how Josh had come up with the initial plan and how he and Donna had stepped things up a little with the flowers. They had known that wouldn't be enough to convince Toby though, so they had asked Jed and Leo for help - after Josh's admission in the Oval Office about the fact he and Donna were dating. Jed had openly pressed him about his plans for his time off, allowing Josh to make some mutterings that were easily heard by CJ. The informal meeting in the Oval Office that very morning was also planned for a reason; although Jed *had* wanted to thank everyone, it was primarily a chance for Josh to give CJ and Toby more evidence to prove their suspicions.

"You're really proud of yourself, aren't you?" Abbey asked with an eye roll.

"Yes. Although, I'll be even prouder when Leo and I relate our involvement in all this to CJ and Toby once we get back to D.C."

"So, where *are* Josh and Donna, if they're not in Vegas?"

"I don't know, Josh wouldn't tell us where they were going. He just said that he could be contacted in an emergency, but he wouldn't say anymore. Of course, I could have roped in the CIA or someone to find out where they are, but I figured I'd give them a break, they deserve it."

"Never mind the fact that you would probably be misusing resources if you'd gotten the CIA involved in this," Abbey pointed out.

"Yeah, that too," Jed admitted with a smile.

*

"Josh, I feel kinda guilty about your mom," Donna said quietly as they lay on the floor in front of the living room fireplace in their mountain lodge.

"What do you mean?" he asked gently, stroking her hair with one hand and rubbing her back with the other.

"Well, if we hadn't been coming here today, your mom could have come to the Inauguration. We should have stayed in D.C. so that she could have visited; I know she didn't come yesterday because she didn't see the point when we would be so busy."

"Donna, don't worry about it. She understands, she just wants us to be happy." He took her hands in his and looked at her seriously. "And I *am* happy, incredibly happy," he whispered honestly.

"So am I," she replied, almost purring at him.

"You know, there's also a fireplace in the bedroom. Why don't we move this through to there?" he suggested, already standing up and tugging at her hand.

"I thought you'd never ask," she grinned. The intense look in Josh's eyes made her heart flutter and it was her turn to tug his hand. "Just let me set the fire okay? I don't want you burning this place down; the White House was bad enough." Josh rolled his eyes but eagerly let her lead him into the bedroom.

**

The End

Next Up… You don't seriously think CJ won't get her own back, do you? g


	5. Revenge

TITLE: "Revenge"

Disclaimers, etc. as in Part 1.

**

"Hey, CJ," Josh greeted as he entered the West Wing, returning from his mini-vacation with Donna in Vermont.

"Josh." CJ did little more than acknowledge his presence.

"Hey, CJ," Donna said brightly as she finally caught up with Josh; CJ nodded but remained silent. Donna turned to Josh as the three walked towards their offices. "Thanks for waiting while I parked the car and then walking me in, Josh," she said wryly.

"Donna, you were trying to reverse park, I know how long that takes you women; I do have a country to run, you know, can't stand around waiting on you all day."

His retort earned him glares from both CJ and Donna and he shrugged his shoulders, giving them an 'I couldn't help it' look.

"So, how was your vacation, CJ?" Josh asked cheerily while they walked.

"Fine," she replied sharply.

Josh and Donna exchanged a glance before Donna asked, "Did you manage to finish your decorating?"

"Yes." Her answer was again sharp and she didn't say goodbye when they reached Josh's office and bullpen area, she just strode down the corridor to her own office.

"What's up with her?" Josh asked Donna.

"I was going to ask you that," she replied, following him into his office, closing the door and hanging her coat on his rack. "Did you say something to piss her off before I arrived?" she accused with a smirk.

"No." He scowled at her but couldn't hold it, letting his lips curve into a smile. "I only arrived a few seconds before you. Hey, how'd you park so fast anyway, did you just push the other car out of the way or something? Or, did someone come out and help you?" He wasn't even trying to hide his smirk and Donna raised her eyebrows.

"Josh, you do realize that I drove us to work this morning, don't you? You also realize that if you keep up the smart remarks, you're gonna be walking home tonight?"

He nodded, but then grinned at her. "That's not a bad thing though; I can only handle so much of your driving and I think I've had my fill of it today already. My knuckles can't get any whiter."

"You're also going to be arriving home to an empty apartment if you keep going," she pointed out.

His grin slipped a little but he recovered quickly. "Nah, that won't happen, I know you can't stay away from me."

"I wonder what's wrong with CJ?" Donna said, changing the subject after rolling her eyes at him.

"I honestly have no idea, hence the reason *I* asked *you* in the first place."

Donna was thoughtful for a moment and then spoke quietly, with worry in her tone. "You don't think she's pissed about the wedding prank, do you?"

"I doubt it," he replied. "She knows it was a joke. Anyway, I called Leo when we got back last night - CJ was in the office yesterday and Leo confessed to his part in the plan; she didn't give him a hard time about it…although, that might have been because the President was also there and owned up to his part in things, apparently he was very proud of himself."

"Yeah, but, Josh, they just played a small part in the grand scheme of things; we were the major players."

"And, my, how we played," Josh grinned, waggling his eyebrows at her. Donna rolled her eyes again but matched his grin. "Seriously, Donna, I don't think she's pissed at us. But, even if she is, she'll get over it; don't worry about it."

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go check your messages."

"Hang on a sec," Josh said as she walked to the door. His voice made her turn around and she saw that he had moved out from behind his desk and was now standing in front of her.

"Josh?"

"Welcome back to the mad, sorry, White House," he smiled. Grabbing her left hand in his own, he placed his right hand behind her head and drew her towards him for a brief kiss. "K, *now* you can go," he said as he released his hold on her.

Donna shook her head and smiled as she turned, opened the door and left the office.

*

"She's definitely pissed at us," Josh announced as he returned from the morning Senior Staff meeting.

"What?" Donna queried blankly, rising from her chair and following him into his office. He motioned for her to close the door; she did so and took a seat in the visitor's chair. "Who's pissed?" she asked.

"CJ."

"Because of the prank?"

"Yeah, she's mad that we could do that to her, and she's even more mad that we managed to get her to convince Toby of the whole marriage thing." 

"How mad is she?" Donna asked hesitantly.

"*Really* mad. She says if we ever play another prank on her, she won't be responsible for her actions."

"Wait, she realizes that I was an unwitting partner in all of this, right?"

"What?!! Donna, you were definitely not *unwitting*, you were very…witting," he stated firmly, waving his hands around.

"Witting?"

"Don't start," he warned through a smile. "The point is, you knew all about the prank and were more than happy to go along with it."

"But I didn't mastermind it," she pointed out. "You came up with the initial idea, I just…helped fill in the details."

"Donna, you were the one who suggested the flowers, which, by the way, I *still* don't think were really necessary to convince her."

"Maybe they weren't," she conceded, "but I did appreciate them." She was smirking and he rolled his eyes.

"I *knew* you played me on that," he groused.

"Whatever. Anyway, what are we going to do about CJ? Should we apologize?"

"Apologize, me?" He looked at her like she'd grown another head. "Never!" he stated emphatically.

"Typical. So, what do we do?"

"Nothing. We'll just leave her, she'll come around eventually."

"I should go and talk to her," Donna said quietly.

"Donna, just leave it," he replied gently.

"I can't, Josh. She's my friend and I don't want her mad at me."

"Okay, well, I'll talk to her then."

"You?" she asked incredulously. "Aren't you the one who got her mad at us in the first place?"

"I'm pleading the 5th on that but, I know if *you* go and talk to her before me, I will end up getting blamed for the whole damn thing; therefore, *I* will talk to her."

"You will be nice won't you?"

"Of course, I'll be my usual 'sweet as pecan pie' self."

"Oh, God!"

*

"Did you talk to CJ?" Donna asked when she and Josh finally had a moment alone later in the day.

"Yeah…well, I tried to."

"Joooosh," Donna groaned. "What did you do *now*?"

"Nothing," he defended. "She just…wasn't very…hospitable."

"What does *that* mean?"

"She, uh, threw me out of her office."

"What?" Donna asked disbelievingly.

"I'm telling you, she threw me out, bodily I might add. She got up from her desk, grabbed me by the arm, dragged me to the door and pushed me out. She then shut the door in my face when I turned around. I was gonna storm back in but I thought that might make things worse."

"I didn't think she'd be *that* mad at us."

"Neither did I," Josh agreed, "but it turns out she is."

"Can I go and talk to her now?" Donna asked pointedly.

"Sure, knock yourself out."

*

"What did you say to CJ?" Josh asked as Donna drove them home, or rather, drove them to Josh's apartment.

"Huh?" She quickly glanced over to query him and then returned her eyes to the road.

"CJ. She's talking to me now and I assume you had something to do with that, so, what did you say to get her to talk to you in the first place?"

"Nothing really, she was already talking to me. I just kinda pointed out that she shouldn't let your stupid prank affect the Sisterhood."

"Hey!" Josh exclaimed. "Firstly, it wasn't just *my* prank; secondly, it wasn't *stupid*, it was remarkably well thought out and executed; and thirdly, how would it affect the Sisterhood? I mean, if she was already talking to you, what's the problem? Of course, I don't understand how she could have been talking to *you* but giving me the silent treatment, but then, I'll never understand women." Donna punctuated his statement by slapping his arm. "Ow," he grumbled.

"You deserved it. Now, to answer your points. It was *your* prank, we've already established that. I admit it wasn't entirely stupid, it was actually pretty funny and I know the President and Leo greatly appreciated it, however, CJ doesn't seem to agree with that point of view. Lastly, CJ not talking to *you* would affect the Sisterhood because *I'd* get caught in the middle. At the end of the day, I'd have to put you before my friendship with CJ, and I don't want to lose her friendship."

"You'd put me first?" he asked with a lump in his throat; although there had never been real doubt in his mind, it was nice to hear it confirmed.

"You know I would, Joshua," she replied softly, not taking her eyes from the road. "Anyway, when you say that CJ's talking to you, is she just being civil or is she back to her usual self?"

"She's pretty much back to normal, although, she did hit me when Leo mentioned the prank again."  
  
"She hit you? Well, I'd say she's *definitely* back to normal."

*

"Hey, Sam! How's it going?"

"It's good, Josh. I finally managed to catch you in the office, huh?" Sam asked.

Josh switched to speakerphone, propped his feet up on his desk and leaned back in his chair. Donna had closed the door after telling him Sam was on the phone, knowing that Josh was looking forward to catching up with him.

"Yeah, sorry I've kept missing you. Things have been pretty hectic around here recently. CJ said you called the night of the Inauguration?"

"Yeah, I did. I managed to talk to her and Toby but she said you were busy…something about treading on Donna's toes on the dancefloor?"

Josh could hear the grin in Sam's voice and he smiled. "I'm a good dancer," he defended.

"Yeah, whatever. So, were you ever going to tell me about you and Donna?" Sam asked, with hurt evident in his tone.

Josh dropped his feet to the floor and scrubbed a hand across his face. "Of course I was, Sam. I'm sorry you heard it from someone else first, it was CJ, right?" Sam confirmed this and Josh continued. "Yeah, well, I just didn't have time to talk to you before then. If it makes you feel any better, Donna's already kicked my butt for it; she kept telling me to call you but I just never got around to it."

"It's okay, Josh, I understand. How are things going anyway? I heard about your trip to Vermont after the Inauguration."

"CJ again?"

"Yeah, I called her the night you left, just after she had received a certain fax from you."  
  
"Really?" Josh suddenly became intrigued. "How did she sound? I mean, what did she tell you about the fax?"

"She was okay I guess. She seemed to find it pretty funny but she was pissed that you'd managed to get her to convince Toby; she wasn't looking forward to what he was going to say to her."

"But she did find it funny?" Josh clarified.

"Yeah, why? Is she giving you a hard time?"

"Kinda. It's…I dunno I what it is actually."

"Okay," Sam said, deciding it was time to change the subject before he got dragged into something he didn't want any part of. "Hey, you didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"About how things are going with you and Donna."  
  
"Oh, yeah, they're good…really good."

"Yeah? I'm happy for you, Josh. I take it you're happy as well?"

"Definitely," he confirmed with a smile. "But, I don't really want to get into a discussion about me and Donna right now."

"Why not?" Sam asked, obviously confused. "It's not like I've heard much about it, don't you think it's time you filled me in on the details?"

"No, 'cos, firstly, we're not in High School, and secondly, there is every possibility that Donna is sitting at her desk right now listening to this conversation via her phone. If she hears me praising her too much she's gonna get all conceited."

"Right," Sam laughed. "And you don't want *two* conceited, egotistical people in the relationship."

"Hey!" Josh tried to sound offended but couldn't help laughing. "So, how are things going with the campaign anyway?"

"Pretty good. In fact, I just hired myself an assistant."

"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, she's great, like my own version of Donna. Actually, I wanted to hire *Donna*, but for some reason, I didn't think she'd leave you. I'm not gonna give up trying to persuade her though, you know, once I get back to D.C."

"Well, good luck with that, Sam, but I think your first assessment is correct; she'll never leave me," Josh replied confidently. "So, who did you hire?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Sam."

"Okay, well, she's kinda cool –"

"Cool?" Josh interrupted. "Sam, you're not supposed to hire someone 'cos they're *cool*, you hire them based on references and stuff."  
  
"Like you did with Donna you mean?" Sam asked mischievously.

"Donna's different; she hired herself, I didn't get much of a choice."

"True," Sam conceded.

"So, you were saying…aside from her being *cool*, why else did you hire her?"

"She talked me into it, she can debate with the best of them. I mean it, Josh, I think she could give you a run for your money."

"I seriously doubt that, Sam."

"No, really, Josh. She walked into my office and told me that I'd be crazy not to hire her. I said I wasn't really looking for an actual assistant at the moment, you know, 'cos there are plenty of volunteers in the office to help me out, but she put up a good fight and I gave in."

"Well, it's not like she'd have to put up *that* good of a fight to get *you* to give in," Josh smirked.

"Hey!"

"Settle down, Sam. Anyway, when do I get to meet this woman? What's her name by the way?"

"Well, that's the really cool thing, it's kinda why I gave in."

"What?" Josh was confused.

"Her name's Donna."  
  
"What?!!!!" Josh was glad that his feet were already on the floor otherwise he might have fallen off his chair. "Her name's *Donna*? You know, Sam, that's kinda freaky."

"Yeah, it would be, wouldn't it?"

"Wait, you mean…"

"Yeah, her name's not Donna."

"Sam! That was for the crack about you being gullible?" he guessed.

"Yep," Sam easily admitted.

"Well, thanks. So, what *is* her name?"

"Sindy Conner. And don't even start making cracks about *that*," Sam warned.

"Huh? Why would I?"

"I know you, Josh. You're probably sitting there right now thinking of jokes about her being named after a doll."

"She's named after a doll?" Josh really wasn't following Sam.

"No, she's not, but her name's spelt the same way."

"Huh?"

"S I N D Y," Sam spelt out. "You know, the Sindy doll; Barbie's rival."

"Oh, it's spelt like that? I figured it would start with a C." Josh was silent for a moment and then, "So, does she look like the doll? You know, blonde hair, long legs, big—"

"Josh! What did I just say? No cracks about the doll."

"But, Sam, it's too easy."

"Josh, isn't *Donna* blonde, with long legs?"

"Yeah, but that's…different. Anyway," Josh rambled, trying to change the topic, "as I asked before, when am I going to meet her?"

"You're not."

"Why not?"

"I don't think you two would get on," Sam muttered in a rush, before answering more clearly, "Anyway, I don't know if I'll bring her to D.C. with me if, *when* I win."

"Why wouldn't you bring her? You obviously think she's good, so what's the problem?" Sam started to reply but Josh continued, "Also, why wouldn't we get on?"

"I don't know if she'll want to move to D.C. and anyway, I might ask either Bonnie or Ginger to work for me there, if they want to."

"And have them leave the White House…and Toby; you haven't got a hope in hell of that happening. Now, answer my *other* question Sam; why wouldn't Sindy and I get on?"

Sam let out a long sigh, trying to prepare himself for what he knew would happen next. He'd known it would happen as soon as he had mentioned Sindy, but he couldn't exactly hide the fact that he had hired an assistant and had instead decided to take the bull by the horns; now, he wasn't so sure he was ready.

"Sam?" Josh prompted.

"Huh, oh, yeah. Uh…" Sam stalled. He took his phone off speakerphone, bringing the handset to his ear, as a way of protecting those outside his office from hearing Josh's bellow. "Uh, well…she's a Republican," he said quietly, moving the handset away from his ear as soon as he finished speaking.

Even with the handset held at a distance, Josh's reaction was clearly heard by Sam. "WHAT?!!" he yelled. This was followed by a loud crash and then silence.

"Josh?" Sam asked with trepidation as he returned the phone to his ear. There was silence and Sam tried again. "Josh? Are you there?" Sam heard movement and then Donna's voice at the other end of the line.

"Josh? Are you alright? What happened?" Donna asked; she had rushed into Josh's office as soon as she heard the crash.

"I'm fine, Donna," he replied. "I just…knocked some stuff off my desk."  
  
"Why?"

Josh let out a sigh before replying. "I, uh…got some…strange news and moved my arms in surprise."

"Strange news? Like what?" she queried, bending down to pick some files off the floor. She soon realized what had caused the crashing noise; Josh's coffee mug was lying in pieces on the floor beside his desk. Before Josh could answer, Sam's voice was once again transmitted through the speakerphone.

"Josh? What's going on?"

"Sam?"

"Hi Donna. Is Josh alright?"

Donna glanced at Josh; his head was resting in his hands, his elbows propped up on his desk, but she could still see the sheepish expression on his face.

"Yeah, he's fine, Sam. He just had a little accident; took offence to his coffee mug and some files I think. I don't know what prompted it though."

"Uh, I might be able to answer that," Sam confessed.

"Yeah?"

"A Republican, Sam?" Josh sputtered before Sam could fill Donna in.

"What?" Donna asked in confusion. "Who's a Republican? Sam," she queried with amusement, "have you gone over to the dark side or something?"

Sam laughed heartily in response and even Josh smiled at Donna's question. "No, Donna," Sam replied. "I've hired an assistant out here. She's a Republican and, I'm guessing by Josh's response, that he's not too happy about that."

"Well, Sam, she's *your* assistant, Josh doesn't have any say in the matter."

"Donna," Josh warned, narrowing his eyes at her but with no real anger in them. "Honestly, Sam," he continued, directing his voice towards the phone, "what possessed you to hire a Republican assistant?"

"Josh, I'm sure he didn't *know* she was a Republican when he hired her," Donna interjected. She had now finished clearing up the mess on the floor and had shut the office door and taken a seat in the visitor's chair; she knew if she left the office, Josh would end up saying something really stupid to Sam.

"Sam?" Josh questioned incredulously. "You didn't ask her if she was a Democrat before you hired her?"

"Uh, no, I didn't," Sam replied.

"What? Why the hell not?"

"Josh, did you ask Donna if she was a Democrat when you hired her?" Sam asked pointedly.

"Um, no, but she walked into the 'Bartlet for America' campaign office so it was obvious that she was," he replied, smiling wistfully as he looked at Donna.

"And Sindy walked into *my* campaign office," Sam highlighted.

"Therefore, you didn't realize she wasn't a Democrat," Josh grudgingly allowed.

"Actually, I did," Sam admitted.

"What?! How did you know? And, if you knew, what the hell was the point of the last minute of our conversation?" Josh demanded.

"Okay, well, the last minute was about me having a little fun, and I knew she wasn't a Democrat because she told me as soon as she came in."

"Wait a minute," Josh exploded. "Are you telling me that not only have you hired a *Republican* for an assistant, but that you *knew* she was Republican when you hired her? Are you kidding me, Sam?"

"Josh, she saw me speak at a rally and decided that I'm the better candidate, or rather, she reckons I'm gonna win. She rightly pointed out that when I win, I won't *just* be representing Democrats, I'll also be representing the Republican constituents within my district. She wants to make sure that I remember to consider *their* opinions as well."

"She told you all this?" Josh asked.

"Yeah, she told me when she came in and demanded a job. She was pretty persuasive and I was impressed. She's good, Josh, really good."

"But she's still a *Republican*," Josh objected.

"Josh, shut up," Donna interrupted, before he started ranting. "We have Ainsley on staff and you get on with her okay."

"Yeah, but I didn't have any *say* in hiring her," he grumbled.

There was silence from Josh for a moment as he considered the possible repercussions of Sam's decision. Sam and Donna started to chat between themselves, with Donna asking how the campaign was going and then a thought occurred to Josh that made him a little happier with the situation.

"I guess it's okay, Sam," he said.

"What's okay?" Sam asked with confusion.

"Having a Republican assistant; after all, she's *only* an assistant, it's not like she's gonna be making any real decisions or having much *real* input."

"Uh, Josh?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"Donna's still in the office, right?"

"Yeah," Josh confirmed.

"Are you looking at her right now?"

"No, I'm trying to find a way to glue my broken coffee mug back together. Why?"

"Okay, well, think back over what you just said and then look at Donna, if you're brave enough."

Josh thought for a moment and then said, "Oh, well, I mean, Donna," he stammered, looking up at her face to find her eyes narrowed at him, "you're different. I mean…you work in the White House, for me, you're a lot different to *Sam's* assistant. You obviously have a lot of input…*valuable* input. I would never –"

"Quit while you're behind, Josh," Donna advised. "I know what you meant." She rose from her seat and stepped towards the door. Josh bolted from his seat to stop her.

"Donna, I'm sorry. You know I wasn't thinking, right? I just let my mouth run away from me, without communicating with my brain."

"I know, Josh," she replied, turning to face him and giving him an evil smile. "I'm not mad, I just wanted to hear you grovel." Sam's laughter could be heard over the speakerphone and Donna grinned. She then gave Josh a brief kiss and opened the door. Turning back to Josh, she said, "If I hear any more of that kind of talk though, Joshua, I'll have the Sisterhood on you faster than you can spit."

Josh gulped and gave her an apologetic look as she closed the door.

"Sam, that's all your fault," he accused as he sat down behind his desk again.

"Hey, don't blame me for you not being able to control your mouth, Josh."

"Yeah," he sighed. "So, you said you might not keep Sindy on when you come back to D.C.? I think that would be a good idea…not keeping her on I mean."

"Why not?"

"Sam!"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's not start arguing about this again, Josh, huh? Why don't you tell me about you and Donna instead? How was your trip to Vermont?"

"It was good, but I'm not gonna tell you anymore than that."

Josh and Sam chatted for another few minutes until Donna reappeared to remind Josh he had a meeting on the Hill.

"Just think, Sam, in a few months time, the guy I'm meeting on the Hill might be you."

"Yeah, and I'll be giving you hell too," Sam grinned.

"Like *you'll* ever beat me in an argument, Seaborn," Josh scoffed.

*

"DONNA!" Josh bellowed from his office. Donna entered a few moments later, glaring at him.

"Josh, how many times do I have to tell you not to yell? You have a perfectly good intercom system, as well as two perfectly good legs and feet that you could use to walk to your door and then ask me quietly to come into to your lair, sorry *office*."

"But then I wouldn't be me," he grinned.

Donna rolled her eyes and shut the door. "What do you need?"

"I want an explanation about this," he said somewhat forcefully, thrusting a piece of paper at her.

"Um, well," Donna said, glancing at the paper, "it looks like a fax."

"It *is* a fax. I want to know *why* it's on my desk."

"Because it's addressed to you?" Donna replied, her tone sounding questioning.

"Hey, you're funny," Josh said drolly. "Donna, that fax is a *position paper*, sent to me yesterday by Sam's assistant."

"So? I guess Sam wanted your help with something for his campaign."

"No, Donna, it didn't come from *Sam*, it came from his *assistant*."

"She probably wrote it on his behalf."

"I seriously doubt that; Sam wouldn't write a position paper taking the Republican viewpoint about the Foreign Aid Budget," he blustered. "This came from *Sindy*, it's all her, I know it. God, Sam only told me about her two days ago and already she's pissing me off."

"Okay," Donna said slowly. "So, what do you need me for?"

"I want to know why, given the nature of its content, why is it on my desk?"

"Oh, well, I didn't read it, so I didn't know what was in it," Donna admitted. Josh cocked his head, as if to say 'it's your job to read these things for me' and Donna continued. "I saw it was on 'Seaborn for Congress' paper so I figured you'd want to read it. Things have been a little hectic today and I haven't had time to go through everything. I'm sorry, Josh."

"It's okay," he said softly. "I'm not mad at you, I'm pissed at Sam though; how could he let her send this? Doesn't he know I have better things to do with my time?"

"Maybe he doesn't know she sent it?"

"Well, he should have better control of his assistant then," Josh said without thinking. At Donna's raised eyebrows he stammered, "Uh…you uh…I…you know what I mean."

"Yeah. I think the person who needs to learn how to control something is *you*, namely, your *mouth*."

Josh looked suitably chastened as he looked at her. "I know, I'm sorry. I'm not gonna get anymore of these things on my desk though, am I?" he asked, pointing at the fax.

"If they're addressed to you, yes, you are."

"You're supposed to sift out the trash though, Donna," he complained.

"Josh, she might really write something on Sam's behalf. If I ignore something that's *actually* from Sam, you'd start yelling at me. So, anything that comes from Sam's office is going to be placed on your desk."

Josh let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Remind me again why I'm dating you?" he asked with a smirk.

"Because you love me," Donna automatically deadpanned.

"Yeah," he replied, his tone wistful but serious.

Donna suddenly realized what she had said, what he was agreeing with, and her eyes searched Josh's face; he was now engrossed in a memo and she couldn't read him. "Josh, you know that...you just ag…" she stammered. He looked up at her with a furrowed brow. "It doesn't matter," she finished, standing up and reaching for the doorknob. "You have Staff in five minutes."

Josh wandered past her desk a few minutes later. "I'm going to Staff," he called in passing. She looked up and acknowledged his statement with a nod. "By the way, Donna," he said, looking at her directly, "I know what you said earlier, and I know I agreed." He flashed her a dimpled smile and then charged through the doors towards Leo's office, leaving Donna to stare after him, with her mouth open and feeling stunned.

*

By the following Monday, Josh was getting increasingly frustrated. Sindy had sent another two position papers on various Republican issues, both of which Donna had placed on his desk. He only read a few lines before throwing them in the trash but he still felt it was a waste of his valuable time. He'd called Sam to complain and had actually spoken to Sindy; she had told him that it was her *duty* to take advantage of being able to directly contact someone with the ear of the President. When he finally managed to talk to Sam he assured him it would stop. Josh was further frustrated though, as he and Donna hadn't been able to spend much quality time together outside of the office since they'd got back from Vermont, and he had his suspicions about why.

"Donna," he said wearily, late in the afternoon. "I think I've figured out CJ's revenge plot against us."

"What?" she asked with surprise. She was dropping some folders onto his desk but, at his statement, she shut the office door and took a seat.

"She's keeping us apart," he explained. "I think she and Toby are in it together."

"What do you mean? I didn't think they were doing anything. I thought they'd just accepted the fact that we got one over on them."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Josh said emphatically. "They'll *never* do that."

"So, what are they doing then? I haven't noticed anything."

"Like I said, they're keeping us apart."  
  
"Us?"

"You and me."

"How are they doing that? I mean, Josh, we're together."

"Yeah, but haven't you noticed? Since we got back from Vermont, I've let you leave early a few nights, or at least, earlier than me, so that you could go home and get some clothes and then meet me at my apartment. However, every time I've tried to leave, either CJ or Toby has asked me to help them with something. By the time I've got home, you've been asleep."

"You think they're doing that on purpose?" she asked skeptically. "Why would they do that? I mean, don't they want us together?" She looked a little alarmed and Josh softened his tone as he replied.

"Yeah, they want us together, but I do think they're keeping us apart on purpose. It's an easy way to piss me off, get me frustrated. They're still smarting over us pulling the wedding prank off."

"Well, there's not much we can do about it, even if it's true," Donna pointed out.

"Oh, but there is."

"Like what?"

"Well, we could sneak out of here together. The problem arises because they see you leaving and then keep a careful watch on me. If we leave together, they won't have time to do anything."

"So, you want me to start bringing a change of clothes to work with me?"

"No, you know what I want, Donna."

"You want me to start leaving clothes at your place?" she guessed.

"No, although it'd be a start. I want you to move in with me, you know that."

Donna sighed. "Josh, I can't, *you* know that."

"Why not?" he practically whined.

She sighed again, really not wanting to have the argument they'd been having every night since the Vermont trip. This time, she decided to try misdirection. "For the same reason I can't leave clothes at your place," she explained. "You don't have enough closet space, since you won't throw out all your '70's stuff. Why did you even bring them to D.C.?"

"They'll come back in fashion," he defended. "It's a way of saving money."

"You never wear anything except suits or jeans and sweaters," she countered. "However, if you're saving money, you should really offer to give me a raise, pay for it out of your own pocket."

"I really don't think I'll do that," Josh replied with a smile.

"Yeah? Well, I think that's going to be my answer every time you ask me to move in with you."

"What's going to be your answer?" he queried in confusion.

"I really don't think I'll do that!"

Josh was incredulous but grinning as he asked, "So, you're saying that to get you to move in with me, I have to give you a raise?"

"No, I'm saying it'd be a good start."

"K, 'cos, you know, me doing that could get us in a lot of trouble," he smirked.

*

An hour or so after their discussion about Donna moving in with Josh, or rather, not moving in with him, he called her into his office again and asked her to close the door.

"I was thinking," he said as soon as she sat down.

"Did it—"

"Don't even think about it, Donnatella," he warned. "If the words 'did it hurt?' leave your lips, you will regret it."

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," she smiled. "Anyway, what were you thinking about?"

"You moving in with me."  
  
"Josh," she sighed. "Please, not this *again*."

"No, hear me out," he insisted. "You said you want a raise, right?" Donna nodded. "Well, by moving in with me, you'd technically be *getting* a raise."  
  
"How do you figure that one?"

"Well, I'd be paying the rent so, the money you normally pay for rent would be extra money in your pocket," he said logically.

"Except that I'd still have to pay rent," she replied.

"Huh?"

"Josh, do you think I'd move in with you and not pay my way? I'd pay half the rent for your place."

"Okay, but you do realize that even *half* of what I pay is more than you pay right now?"

"Really?" He nodded. "Hmm, well, in that case, maybe I *won't* pay half the rent. But, you know, that's another reason not to move in with you; I'd feel like I wasn't paying my share."

"That's not a problem," he grinned. "You can pay me in *kind*, be my slave."

"Your slave?" she queried with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, you know, be at my beck and call, attend to my every whim." He was waggling his eyebrows and Donna had to stifle a laugh. "Bring me coffee…" he continued.

"Okay, Josh, I don't bring you coffee in the office, what the hell makes you think I'd do it at home?"

"Fantasy," he laughed. "Seriously though, Donna, I don't expect you to pay anything. I just want you with me, please," he implored.

"Josh, I'm sorry. I'm just not ready. We've only been together a few weeks, just give it some time."

"Okay," he grudgingly agreed, tempering it with a warm smile. "But can you at least leave some clothes at my place? It'll make it easier for us."

"Yeah, I can do that," she smiled. "I'll leave early tonight, go pick some up from my apartment and then meet you at your place."

"No," he stated firmly. Donna raised her eyebrows. "That'll just give Toby or CJ time to get me to work late again. Why don't we just leave together and then you can go to your place in the morning to change and pick up extra clothes?" he suggested.

"Oh, so *I* have to get out of bed an hour earlier than you so that I can go and pick up clothes? That's hardly fair," she protested weakly.

"Well, you should have brought some clothes over the last time I asked," he smirked.

*

"Josh, I need you to go over the Foreign Aid stuff with me, for my briefing tomorrow," CJ said as Josh gathered his things later that night.

"Not now, CJ. I'm going home."

"Josh, I need to know this, and you need to tell me," she persisted.

"CJ, I know what you're doing, you know."

"What? What are you talking about, Josh?"

"You know that Donna left about ten minutes ago, even though she wasn't supposed to go without me, and now you're trying to keep me in the office so that I don't get to spend any time with her."

"Why on Earth would I do that?" CJ asked innocently.

"To punish us for the wedding prank. Don't try to deny it, CJ; I know you and Toby have this planned."

CJ smiled devilishly and put up her hands. "Okay, you've figured us out, we did try to punish you," she admitted. "However, I really *do* need your help with this stuff."

"Tomorrow."

"Josh, tomorrow won't do. I need to discuss it in my first briefing and we can't guarantee that there will be time in the morning."

"CJ," he whined. He let out a long sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Okay, but you get half an hour and that's it. If you don't grasp it in that time, tough."

"Gee, thanks, Josh."

*

"Guess what, Josh?"

"What, Sam?" he replied into the phone.

"Sindy's gonna come to D.C. with me if I win."

"What? Sam, I thought we talked about this. It's not a good idea."

"Josh, she's good at her job and I need her; you were right about Bonnie and Ginger, they won't leave Toby, although they said not to tell him that," Sam smiled.

"Sam, you're gonna be a *Democratic* Congressman, you can't have a *Republican* assistant; how will it look?"

"Like I'm putting the needs of my constituents first," Sam replied.

"Did Sindy feed you that line?"

"Josh!"

"Sam, I can't believe you're doing this. It's not gonna end well, you know."

"It won't be anywhere near as bad as you think. Honestly, it'll be fine."

"Well, it's your career, I guess," Josh answered. "I'm just trying to look out for you."

"I know, and I appreciate it, really, I do. Look, we're coming to D.C. in a couple of days, we need to meet and greet some campaign donators there. I'm gonna come into the office for a couple of hours, catch up with a few people. I'll bring Sindy with me, let you judge for yourself, first-hand, what she's like."

"Yeah, okay. Just don't expect me to *like* her."

*

"CJ, I thought when you admitted you and Toby were trying to keep Donna and I apart that it would then stop. Why are you now asking me to work late when you know Donna already left?"

"I didn't think you guys were meeting up tonight," she shrugged.

"What? Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, you've left together for the last couple of nights, in the same car; Donna told me she keeps some clothes at your place now. I figured when she left in her own car tonight, before you, that she was going home."

"Yeah, well she's not. She's going to my place to make dinner for us both. I said I'd be a half hour behind her. I can't work late."

"Josh, I'm sorry, but I do need this stuff to be done."

"CJ, it's not gonna happen."

"Don't make me get Toby, Josh," she warned.

Josh stared at her incredulously. "Am I supposed to be worried by that? I don't work for Toby," he reminded her.

"No, but we can soon get Leo involved. I'm sure he won't be pleased to hear that you're refusing to help so that you can go home for dinner."

"It's not just any dinner though, CJ," he informed her. At her questioning look he explained, "Donna's cooking us homemade lasagne, her mom's recipe. If I'm late, I won't get any."

"I'm sure she'll save some for you, Josh," CJ laughed.

"No, she won't. She'll put it into a container to bring in for her lunch tomorrow. Really, CJ, I gotta be there; it's too good to miss."

"Josh."

"Look, gimme the stuff you need me to read. I'll go over it at home and get Donna to make notes for me and type them up first thing in the morning."

"Josh Lyman, offering a *compromise*, I'm stunned," CJ grinned.

"Hey, I could just refuse point blank, you know. Leo's tasted Donna's lasagne before, he'll side with me, especially if I offer to bring him in leftovers tomorrow."

"You're a devious man, Joshua."

"Yes, I am. Now, can I go home?"

"Go," she sighed, handing him the folder of information.

Josh didn't need to be told twice; he grabbed his coat and backpack and disappeared from the office as fast as he could, leaving CJ to stare after him, chuckling to herself.

*

"Josh!"

Josh turned around at the sound of his name being called and was surprised to find Sam Seaborn grinning at him from the end of the corridor.

"Sam, when did you get here?" Josh was smiling, obviously happy to see his friend, and he waited while Sam caught up to him.

"About twenty minutes ago, I've been in Toby's office."

Together, they walked to Josh's office and, as they entered, Josh closed the door behind them.

"Where's Donna?" Sam asked; she hadn't been at her desk.

"She's over at the OEOB, doing some filing," Josh grinned.

"Punishment?"

"Surprisingly, no," he replied. Sam looked curious. "I don't need to punish her like that anymore, I have better ways now," Josh smirked.

"Can I tell her you said that?"

"No!"

"So," Sam said, dropping into the visitor's chair as Josh sat behind his desk, "I assume things are still going well between you and Donna?" Josh smiled warmly in response, a wistful look appearing on his face; Sam couldn't help grinning.

"What?" Josh demanded, feeling a little self-conscious.

"Nothing."

"Hmm. Anyway, how are things with you? When do you need to meet the campaign donators?"

"Tonight. There's a reception and then we fly back to California early tomorrow morning."  
  
"We?"

"Yeah, me and Sindy. I told you she was coming."

"Ah, yes, the Republican," Josh said slightly disdainfully.

"Josh," Sam warned.

"Okay, I'll be nice. Where is she?"

"Oh, Ainsley came to see Toby while we were there and she and Sindy got talking. Toby threw them out of his office so they went to the Mess."

"Figures."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean, it figures that she and Ainsley would get on, since they're both Republicans, and it's not exactly uncommon to find Ainsley in the Mess. Maybe never stopping eating is a Republican thing." Sam chuckled at Josh's statement and Josh flashed him a grin. "So, when do I get to meet her?"

"In a little while, I guess. I need to go and visit a few people and then I've been instructed to go to the Oval in about an hour for the start of the Senior Staff meeting; I'll bring Sindy with me."

"Whoa, there, Sam!" Josh exclaimed. "Firstly, you shouldn't be at Senior Staff, you're on a leave of absence at the moment. Secondly, you *certainly* shouldn't be bringing your *Republican* assistant with you."

"I'm only gonna be there for the start of the meeting. The President wants to see me and that's the only time he has available. We're not going to be discussing anything that Sindy can't hear about, so, it'll be a good time for the rest of you to meet her; she and Toby got on okay."

"Yeah, well, Toby's easily led," Josh smirked.

"Uh huh, I dare you to tell him that, Josh," Sam challenged. Josh grinned but didn't take the bait. "Hey, why don't you bring Donna to Staff, let her meet Sindy? I want to catch up with her anyway and don't think I'll have time before then."

"Yeah, okay, I'll bring her along for a few minutes."

*

"Sam, it's good to see you," the President greeted as Charlie showed Sam and Sindy into the Oval Office.

"You too, Sir," Sam replied, shaking the President's hand. "This is Sindy Conner," he continued, motioning to his assistant.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Conner." He held out his hand and Sindy nervously accepted it, shaking it over-vigorously due to her anxiousness.

"Hey, Sindy," Sam smiled. "You can let go now; the President has letters and stuff to sign, he kinda needs a working hand to do that."

Sindy blushed and immediately let her hand drop to her side. She was about to apologize when Leo entered from his office. CJ, Toby, Josh and Donna arrived a few moments later.

"Sparky!" CJ enveloped Sam in a hug, which he gratefully received.

Watching the display of affection between the two friends, Josh brought his hand to his mouth and covered it. He then 'coughed', "Get a room." Donna automatically smacked him on the arm and he smirked; his smirk grew wider as CJ glared at him and Sam blushed.

CJ soon noticed the stranger in the room and looked towards Sam.

"Okay, for those of you who haven't already met her, I'd like to introduce you to Sindy Conner. She is my trusty assistant," he beamed.

"*Trusty* assistant, Sam?" CJ questioned. "You make her sound like a sidekick or something." Josh started to say something but was silenced by a look from Donna. "It's good to finally meet you, Sindy," CJ said, extending her hand. "I've heard a lot about you from Sam."

"All good I hope," Sindy replied.

"Well, that'd be difficult," Josh muttered. 

"What was that, Josh?" the President asked.

"Uh…I…uh," he stammered.

"Josh, is there a problem?" Leo inquired.

"No, it's just…uh…" he trailed off, looking from one colleague to another for help; none was forthcoming.

"Josh?" Leo's tone was now demanding. "Do you have a problem with Sindy?"

"Not as such, no," he hedged. Everyone in the room was staring at him, waiting for an explanation. "It's just…I don't think she should be Sam's assistant," he finally said.

"Why not?" the President asked.

"Well, she's a *Republican," he practically spat out, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Donna was glaring at him.

There was stunned silence for a few moments, which was soon broken by the sound of laughter. Josh looked around the room to see Toby and CJ high-fiving each other and then high-fiving Sam. Leo and the President were laughing heartily and Sindy was grinning widely. He glanced at Donna but she had an unreadable look on her face.

"What?" he demanded. "What's going on?"

"Sam," Toby gasped through his laughter, causing everyone in the room to double-take with shock; it wasn't often Toby laughed as energetically. "Do you want to explain?"  
  
"Nah," Sam grinned. "I think this one belongs to CJ."

Josh was beginning to get impatient and he crossed his arms over his chest, narrowed his eyes and gave CJ a questioning look.

"Sindy's not a Republican, Josh," she explained. Josh's eyes grew wide with astonishment as CJ continued. "She's a true Democrat, as are her parents and grandparents."

"What?" Josh looked from CJ to Sindy and found her nodding her head and smirking. With a fleeting look at an equally smirking Sam, the penny dropped. "You played me?!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, yes we did," CJ laughed. "Not so much the *Master Prankster* now, are you?"

"Wait, this was to get back at me for the wedding prank?" he deduced. CJ nodded in confirmation. "Okay, but you know I didn't act alone in that. Why are you just getting back at me? Why not Leo, the President and Donna as well? Especially Donna."

"Josh," the President interjected with a smile. "They could hardly get back at me; they're scared of the Secret Service. As for Leo, well, he would find easy ways of punishing them."

"And Donna?" Josh demanded. He whirled around to look at her and saw her pouting at him. "Hey, don't try that with me, Donnatella, I'm impervious," he smirked. "You were as much a part of the wedding prank as I was; if they're going to play a prank on me, you should be a part of it as well."

"Is it my fault if I'm not as bothered about Sam having a Republican assistant as you are?" she asked pointedly.

"No, but—"

"Josh," CJ interrupted. "Donna was punished as well." Josh furrowed his brow. "She had to put up with all your ranting about Sindy being a Republican," she grinned.

CJ's statement brought a fresh round of laughter to the room and, although he was scowling, Josh felt his shoulders start to heave with laughter as well.

"I can't believe you did this, Sam," Josh whined. "What did I do to you? I didn't trick you with the wedding thing."

"No, but you didn't tell me about you and Donna, either," Sam pointed out with a laugh. "That'll teach you to keep me out of the loop."

*

"Morning," Josh said as he leaned over to kiss Donna.

"Hi, how long have you been awake?"

"A while." He smiled as he pulled her head down to rest on his chest; she immediately pushed herself up and looked at him.

"Is something wrong?" she asked with obvious concern.

"No," he soothed, rubbing his hand up and down her upper arm. "I just…I started thinking about something as I fell asleep last night and, when I woke up, I was still thinking about it."

"What is it? Is it work?"

"No, well, not exactly…it's to do with yesterday, the Sindy thing."

"Oh, Josh," Donna sighed. "You're not *still* hung up on that, are you? They played a prank on you and they did it well. You're just pissed that they played you at your own game."

"Nah, that's not what's bothering me."

"It's not?"

"No. See, I know that Sam and CJ claimed yesterday's supposed *victory*, and I know Toby played a small part in it, but I think they had help."

"Yeah, well, Leo and the President helped, you know that." Donna was now sitting up in bed, her back against the headboard, with her head twisted round to look at Josh.

"Ah, but if Leo and the President had come up with the *idea*, they would have been gloating a lot more yesterday than they were."

"What are you getting at, Josh?"

He turned on his side to face her fully. "I think, no, I *know* that there was another mastermind behind this."

"It was CJ," Donna said, furrowing her brow.

"No, it was *you*," he accused, although there was no anger in his tone, only mild humor.

"Me?" Donna asked innocently.

"Yes, *you*, Donnatella." He looked directly into her eyes and held her gaze. "I have a feeling that CJ came to you and asked for help with getting me back; this whole thing has the mark of Donnatella Moss."

"I don't know what you mean," she defended weakly.

"Yes, you do. CJ's devious, but I don't think she's devious enough to have come up with a plan involving Sam when he's on the other side of the country. She already admitted that she and Toby were trying to keep you and I apart; I think that was her original plan and then you helped her out with this one. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Uh…" Instead of answering, Donna tried to climb out of bed. Josh grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Oh, no you don't, Donna," he laughed. "Answer please."

"What gave it away?" she asked, crawling under the covers again and running a hand up his chest; he grabbed her hand in his own to still her movements.

"Don't try to distract me, Donna," he smirked. "I started thinking about the position papers *Sindy* sent. There's no way they would normally have found their way to my desk; you had to be in on it or you would have just read them and thrown them away, or whatever."

"That doesn't mean I'm the mastermind, Josh; maybe CJ asked me to make sure the faxes got to your desk?"

"Nope, CJ wouldn't have come up with the idea for the position papers, I know her, and I know *you*."

Donna smiled seductively. "You love it when I'm devious, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," he admitted with a grin. "But don't think that means you're getting away with it. When did you plan all this anyway, when did CJ approach you?"

"Remember she wasn't talking to us when we got back from Vermont?" Josh nodded. "And remember you went to talk to her and she threw you out? I then went to talk to her?"

"Yeah," he said slowly.

"I got her to start talking to us by saying I'd help her get back at you."

"Donna! That's…that's…"

"It's what?"

"It's no way to treat your boss, and it's certainly no way to treat the man you share a bed with."

"Maybe not, but it was fun," she grinned.

"Yeah, well your punishment's not gonna be fun," he warned.

"I'm going to be punished?"

"Oh, yeah," he smirked as he grabbed her hands and drew her into a lingering kiss.

When they broke apart, Donna asked, "And just what is this punishment going to be, Josh?"

"Let's just say that your punishment is going to be very *satisfying* for me," he replied with a mischievous grin.

** 

The End

Y'all just know Josh isn't gonna let them get one over on him like that, don't you? :-)


	6. Fools Game

TITLE: "Fool's Game"

NOTES: Despite my note at the end of the last chapter stating Josh would get revenge, you'll have to wait until CJ has had a little more fun…Josh will get his revenge at the end of this chapter though. :-)

Disclaimers, etc. as in Part 1.

**

"Ah, Mr Lyman…or is it, Mr Moss?" the President grinned as Josh joined the rest of the Senior Staff in the Oval Office.

"Excuse me?" Josh queried, his brow furrowed.

"I have to say, Josh, I'm extremely disappointed that you didn't tell us in person," Leo chimed in.

"What?" Josh looked from Leo to the President. "What are you talking about?" Looking around at his colleagues, he noticed that neither CJ, Toby or Will appeared to confused by Leo's comment.

"You know what we're talking about, Josh," the President stated. "The Washington Post." He gave Josh a look that showed he expected him to understand; however, Josh was more confused than ever.

"The Post? What about it? What's going on?" Josh asked agitatedly.

"You haven't read the paper today?" CJ asked with surprise.

"No, I haven't had time; some of us have *work* to do. We don't *all* get paid to read newspapers," he said somewhat obnoxiously.

"Hey!"

"Josh," Leo interrupted before CJ and Josh started arguing. "Here, turn to page twenty," he instructed, passing Josh the copy of the Washington Post from the President's desk.

Josh grabbed the paper and opened it out, struggling to turn to the relevant page. The whole room knew when he had found it though, as he bellowed, "What the hell is this?!"

"What does it look like?" CJ asked sarcastically.

"Are we to assume that you're not responsible for it then, Josh?" the President inquired.

"Of course I'm not! You don't…you don't really think *I* put this in here, do you?" Josh asked incredulously.

"No, Josh, we don't," Leo laughed. "We never thought that, for three reasons." Josh stared at everyone quizzically and waited for Leo to explain. "Firstly, you would never just announce it in the paper without telling us first; secondly, I'd lay bets that you would never do what this claims you have, not at the moment anyway, and thirdly, have you realized what today's date is, Josh?"

Josh's eyes scanned the top of the page and read the date. "The first of April," he read aloud. "April Fool's Day!" He groaned as he realized why the notice was in the paper, but his mind was buzzing trying to figure out who was responsible. While he considered the options, he decided to weigh in on the reasons why it couldn't be true. "There's a fourth reason you shouldn't have believed it," he told everyone.

"What?" CJ voiced everyone's confusion at Josh's statement.

"If I was going to announce my engagement to Donna, I would have written it better than this," he declared.

"What do you mean?" the President asked.

"Well, this," he said, looking at the paper, "simply says 'Joshua Lyman, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, is pleased to announce his engagement to Donnatella Moss, Senior Assistant to the White House Deputy Chief of Strategic Planning.' I would never have written it like that."

"So, you've given this some thought, have you, Josh? What would *you* write?" CJ smirked.

Josh ignored the question and asked one of his own. "Who is responsible for putting this in here?"

"Josh?"

"Oh, come on, Leo. I know it had to have come from someone in here. My money's on CJ," he announced.

"Me?" CJ queried with innocent surprise. "What makes you think it was me?"

"Call it intuition."

"Josh," she gasped. "You know Leo told us to stop playing pranks on each other about two months ago. Do you honestly think I would disobey him?"

"Hmm," he murmured, looking at her intently for a few moments. He turned around to look at Toby and Will, but he knew they had also been warned to stop the pranks. He grinned to himself as he remembered the day of the 'final straw' for Leo.

*Flashback*

Toby, Josh, Donna and Leo were gathered in the press briefing room, helping CJ to prepare for the briefing about the FEC passing through restrictions on Soft Money. Unknown to CJ, Toby had placed a remote-controlled plastic snake at the base of the podium before she had arrived; she hadn't noticed it when she walked to the podium as Toby had kept her talking. She probably wouldn't have noticed it had Toby not instructed Will to control the snake from outside the press room and try to get it to crawl up CJ's leg. She felt the movement as she was answering one of Josh's 'mock' questions and, when she looked down and saw the snake, she let out a shriek so loud that it brought some Secret Service Agents running into the press room.

When CJ calmed down, she noticed that Toby was laughing heartily and praising Will for a job well done. He admitted that it was his revenge for CJ convincing him to believe the story about Josh and Donna going to Las Vegas to get married when, in fact, they were playing a prank and going to Vermont.

Leo had reprimanded all of them, furious at the Secret Service being dragged into things, and told them all that the pranks had to stop or they would face the consequences…compulsory attendance, on behalf of the White House, at every fundraiser, function and event that Leo could find.

*End of Flashback*

Josh snapped out of his reverie as he felt CJ staring at him. "Okay, well, if it wasn't any of you who did this," he said, waving from CJ to Toby and then to Will, "that means…Leo?"

"Josh!" Leo said sternly. Josh gulped and his gaze traveled to the President. He thought better of making that accusation and remained silent.

"Well, who was it?" Josh demanded. Toby started to chuckle and Josh whirled around to face him. "Toby? It was you?" he accused.

"No," Toby replied, still smiling.

"So, what are you laughing about?" Josh asked suspiciously.

"It wasn't me, and I don't know for sure who it was," Toby explained, "it's just…I have an idea who it *might* have been."

"What? Who?"

"Donna."

"What?!" Josh exclaimed incredulously. "Why the hell would you think *that*?"

"Maybe it's her way of trapping you," Toby shrugged. "You know, announce your engagement, everyone believes it, and then you have to go through with it to save face."

"Uh uh, no way! Donna wouldn't do this," Josh stated adamantly.

"Are you sure, Josh?" Leo questioned.

"Of course I'm sure! Donna wouldn't do this!" Josh looked around for a moment and then narrowed his eyes. "Wait…you're all trying to get me off track, aren't you?" he accused. "There's no way Donna's involved in this, she—"

"You didn't realize she was involved in the 'Sindy' prank either, until the very end, Josh. She's good, you'd never know," CJ interrupted to point out.

"Stop it," Josh stated firmly. "It wasn't Donna. One of *you* did this," he insisted, looking at each of them again. "It's an April Fool's joke. What I don't get though," he continued, "is why the person responsible won't own up to it; it's not much of a prank if you can't even claim responsibility." He'd hoped that would be enough to make one of them admit their involvement but, it wasn't. "One of you did this." He looked at CJ again. "My money's still on you, CJ," he told her. "I just need to prove it, and I will."

"Well, Josh, you can play at being Sherlock Holmes later on," Leo said. "Right now, we've wasted enough time on this. Let's get this meeting over with."

*

"Oh, Josh, thank God you're back," Donna said as Josh entered his office and slammed the door, only to find Donna sitting in his chair behind the desk. She picked up the paper from the desk. "You have to read—"

"I've seen it," he interjected. "It's a joke, Donna."

"I know that," she smiled. "It's April Fool's Day. Have you any idea who did this though?"

"CJ."

"CJ? Really? She admitted it?"

"No, she wouldn't admit it but, I know it was her," Josh replied as he motioned for Donna to leave his seat so that he could sit down.

"How do you know?"

Josh gave her an incredulous look. "Donna, who else would it be?"

"But, *why* would it be, CJ?"

"To get back at us for the wedding prank."

"Josh, she *already* got back at us for that. Remember the whole 'Sam hired a Republican assistant' thing?"

"No, she got back at *me* with that but, you were in on that, you helped her; she still needs to pay you back."

"She wouldn't do this, Josh," Donna insisted, defending her friend.

"Yeah, she would. Donna, CJ's the Press Secretary, it would be very easy for her to call up a Post reporter, Danny for instance, and get him to print this notice without checking for confirmation of the story first."

"But, wouldn't she admit it…when you accused her?"

"Obviously not."

"But, she's gonna get questions on this, Josh. If it *was* her, she's created a whole lot of extra work for herself."

"Not really, Donna. Everyone will know it was a joke, it's April Fool's Day after all."

"Not everyone," she said softly.

"Huh?" He looked at her curiously as she sat in a visitor's chair across from him. "What do you mean?"

"The only reason I knew to read the paper was because people kept coming up to me and offering me their congratulations. I didn't know what was going on until Bonnie told me to check out the Post."

"What people?"

"Just…people. You know, some staffers, other assistants…people."

Josh let out a long sigh and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Okay, look, we're gonna let CJ handle this, okay? Neither of us are going to comment. All my meetings are here, in the White House, today and I doubt anyone coming here to meet with me will mention it, they'll be too busy worrying about how they're going to get round me to get their way."

"But what about people who call? What am I supposed to say?" Donna asked.

"Just tell them to look at the date on the paper," he replied gently. "It'll be okay, Donna," he assured her, stretching his hand across the desk and giving her hand a squeeze.

*

"How's the morning been?" Josh asked as he and Donna ate lunch in his office. "Any more questions about the notice?"  
  
"Surprisingly, no…but, it's been a busy morning, I guess no-one had time to mention it. How about you?"

"Only Sam."

"Sam?"

"Yeah, he called earlier, when you were at the OEOB. He said the story's all round the Hill."

"Really?" Donna groaned.

"Yeah but, he says no-one's making a big deal out of it…not even the Republicans. Apparently, they all thought it would be on the cards sooner or later, since we've now moved in together and all."

"Can you believe we've been living together for a month now?" Donna asked wistfully.

Josh smiled warmly. "I can't believe we've *only* been living together for a month; I still can't believe you held out on me that long. We could have been living together for *two* months," he whined.

"Josh," she admonished. "Stop complaining, you've got what you wanted *now*."

"Yeah," he said softly, looking into her eyes.

"So, have you found any proof that it was CJ?"

"No, not yet…but, I will," he vowed. "I'm gonna try and talk to Danny this afternoon, if I get a chance between meetings."

"You really think Danny would rat out CJ?" she asked dubiously.

"If I give him something in return, yeah."

"I don't want to know, do I?"

"It's probably safer if you don't," he grinned. "Hey, how were CJ's briefings? I've been in meetings all morning…did she get any questions about us?"

"I don't know; I've been at the OEOB most of the morning, looking for those files you need for the next round of talks on the Hill. Why don't you ask her?"

"Nah, she won't give me a straight answer. Try and get the tapes this afternoon and have a look through them; it'll be easier than trying to find out from anyone else."  
  
"I'll try, but I have to go back over to the OEOB."

"Just do your best."

*

"What a day!" Donna exclaimed as she and Josh walked from his car to the restaurant.

"Tell me about it, mine was full of endless meetings."

"And mine was full of endless files."

  
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," he said, briefly squeezing her hand a little tighter. "I shouldn't need you to do that again for a while; I know how much you hate that file room."

"It's okay, I have the filing system sorted out now," she smiled. "But, I still don't want to spend any more time there," she added, causing Josh to give her a dimpled grin.

"Hey, I'm taking you out to dinner to make up for it, aren't I?"

"Yeah, I guess you are. You know I'm gonna order the most expensive thing on the menu though, right?"

"I never doubted that for a moment," he told her through a smile. "But, I should point out that…uh…I'm gonna pay for it from our joint bank account."

"Hey!" She swatted his arm with her free hand. "So, you're not really taking me out to dinner; technically, *I'm* taking me out to dinner?"

"Nah, I'm taking you and you're taking me, it's an equal partnership," he grinned. "Hey, hang on a minute," he said, dropping her hand and stopping on the sidewalk.

"What?" she asked, looking back at him.

"My mom didn't call today, did she?"

"No," Donna replied with a furrowed brow. "I would have told you if she had. Why?"

"Well, I just…I figured she'd call to ask about the thing in the paper."

"She'd know it was a joke, Josh."

"Yeah, but you know what she's like; she'd have called to laugh about it. Since she didn't, she couldn't have seen it." He walked over to the newsstand he had spotted and picked up a copy of the Washington Post, handing the money to the attendant.

"Um, Josh…you know we have a copy of that in the office, right?"

"I threw it out," he admitted. "I just want one to send to mom."

"Okay," Donna said, looking at him strangely.

They started their walk to the restaurant again as Josh flipped through the paper, intending just to rip out the notice and throw the rest of the paper away, rather than carrying it around all night.

"It's not here."  
  
"What?"

"It's not here," he repeated.

"What's not there?"

"The notice. It was page twenty, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Josh showed her page twenty of the paper; there were no engagement notices.

"Maybe it's on a different page," Donna suggested. "It's probably a later edition."

"No, it's nowhere," Josh said a minute later, after he'd looked through every page.

"Maybe CJ made them take it out of that edition, when she realized people were believing it."

"Yeah, maybe," he agreed slowly. "Hey, did you get a chance to look at the briefing tapes?"

"No. They're on my desk but I didn't have time to look through them."

"Hmm. Okay, gimme a sec."

Josh walked back to the newsstand and asked for a copy of the morning edition of the Post. Luckily, the excess papers didn't get returned until the end of the day, so there were still a few copies available. He walked back to Donna, arriving beside her just as he found page twenty.

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Donna asked, looking at the page Josh held out to her.

"It's not here either; this is the same edition of the paper that we both saw but, it's not here."

"What does that mean?" she asked, totally confused.

"Think about it," he told her as he pulled out his cellphone and snapped it open to punch a speed dial number. "How did you do it, CJ?" he asked as soon as CJ's voice answered him.

"Do what?"

"I'm standing here, right now, with a copy of this morning's Post, which I just bought from a newsstand. Funnily enough though, there are *no* engagement notices in it, never mind one about myself and Donna."

"Really?" CJ asked innocently.

"CJ. How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"CJ!" Donna was now standing beside him, trying to listen to CJ's end of the conversation. Josh wrapped an arm around her, pulled her tight to him and held the cellphone earpiece between them. "I knew there was a reason Danny was avoiding me this afternoon," Josh continued.

"Danny? You think Danny was responsible for the notice?"

"No, CJ, I think *you* were responsible, but I think Danny helped; you couldn't have done this on your own."

"Done what?" she repeated.

"Oh, I dunno…lemme think," Josh said dryly. "How about you got Danny to arrange for some fake copies of the Post to be printed during the night, copies which included the engagement notice for Donna and I? You then gave those copies to a few members of staff, priming them to drop comments to Donna and myself. Then…I think you must have got Sam involved in this, arranged for him to call me and tell me it was all round the Hill. Am I right so far, CJ?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Josh."

"Sure you don't. Well, let me just say this, CJ…" he trailed off and Donna looked at him curiously.

"Josh?" CJ prompted.

  
"Congratulations, CJ," he smiled. "It was a prank so good that it could even have come from the stable of Josh Lyman."  
  
"Why thank you, Joshua."  
  
"So, you're finally admitting it was you?"

"When you've given me praise like that? Of course I am. Are you and Donna still going to dinner?"

"Yeah."  
  
"Well, enjoy yourselves. Goodnight, Josh."  
  
"Goodnight." He snapped the phone shut and replaced it in his pocket. "Let's go eat," he said as he turned to face Donna.

*

"Josh?"

"Hmm?"

They were lying side-by-side in bed, having headed straight there when they returned from dinner, both too tired for anything else.

"What are we going to do now?"

"What?" Josh put down the book he was reading and turned to give Donna his full attention.

"Well, I just have this funny feeling that you've changed your mind about the way you want to tell everyone."

Josh grinned at her evilly. "I'm that transparent, huh?"

"Only to me. So, what are you planning?"

"Well, actually, Leo put the idea in my head."  
  
"Leo?"

"Yeah, he said that I'd never just reveal it in the paper, without telling them all first."

"And?" Donna prompted when he didn't continue.

"I think that's how we *should* tell them."

"What? Josh, we can't do that," Donna protested.

"Why not?"

"Well, for a start, your mom would kill us, as would my parents."

"No, you're not following me," he informed her, taking her hands to stop her waving them around for emphasis. "We'll tell our parents tomorrow, like we always planned to; we've kept it just between us for a week, had a chance to celebrate ourselves, I don't see any reason to change that part of the plan."

"So, what *are* you suggesting?"

"We tell our families tomorrow but, we ask them to keep quiet about it for a few days. Then, on Friday, there will be a notice in the Washington Post, announcing our *real* engagement. Friday's 'take out the trash day' so CJ shouldn't have too much else on, she'll have plenty of time for questions about us then…she just won't have time to prepare as she'll only know about it when she opens the paper first thing in the morning."

"You really are the *Master*, aren't you?" Donna grinned.

"Damn straight!"

"Does that mean I can't wear my ring until Friday?" she asked a little sadly.

Josh took her hands again and looked intensely into her eyes. "Donna, there's nothing I want more right now than to see you wearing the ring declaring that you're going to be my wife. If you want to start wearing it now, that's fine by me. No prank is worth more than you," he said seriously.

"Nah," she grinned. "I can wait; after all, I'm going to be wearing the ring for the rest of my life, what's another few days? Especially when we can get back at CJ again."

"Yet another reason why I love you," Josh grinned, "you're on the same 'devious' wavelength as me."

*

"Hey, Danny?" Josh called out as the reporter passed his office late on the Thursday night.

"Josh?" Danny queried, sticking his head around Josh's office door.

"It's alright, Danny, you can come in; I know you were involved in the whole April Fool's thing, but, I'm not going to punish you."

"You're not," Danny asked skeptically, closing the door at Josh's instruction and taking a seat in the visitor's chair.

"Nope, I'm gonna get you to help me with my revenge though."

"Against CJ? Uh, Josh, I *really* don't think that would be a good idea."

"What, for you to be involved, or for revenge in general?"

"Both."

"Well, I'm gonna do this anyway, I just thought you might like a bit of an exclusive."

Danny's eyes lit up as he raised his eyebrows. "What do you have planned?"

"I need you put this in tomorrow's edition," he replied, passing Danny a piece of paper. "It needs to be kept quiet until then."

Danny read the contents of the paper and looked up at Josh, with shock on his face. "This is true?"

"Of course it is, Danny. You didn't think we'd get engaged?"

"No, I knew you would, anyone can see how good you are together. To be honest though, I didn't expect you to get engaged so soon. Anyway, I meant…you've actually been engaged since March 26th? Since before CJ put the notice in the paper for April Fool's?"

"We're not gonna get married right away," Josh said. "But, only because we need time to plan things. We didn't see the point in waiting though; we've lost enough time already. As for being engaged for a week, that's why that notice says 'CJ Cregg is psychic'," he grinned.

"She's gonna be pissed," Danny told him.

"Yeah, I know," he smirked.

"I'll take care of it," Danny assured him, just as Donna entered the office.

"Hey, Danny."  
  
"Hi, Donna." Danny stood up and gave Donna a kiss on the cheek. "Congratulations."  
  
"Thanks," Donna said with a blush.

"Remind me to be wearing earplugs tomorrow morning when CJ reads the paper," Danny grinned as he left the office.

"You sure about this?" Donna questioned Josh as he reached out for her, pulling her down into his lap.

"What? The notice in the paper or the engagement?"

"Both."

"I'm 100% positive about both," he replied as he gave her a lingering kiss.

The End

Next up…CJ's reaction to the real notice. g


	7. Notice

TITLE: "Notice"

Disclaimers, etc. as in Part 1. Also, props to Scott Adams - one of the 'funnies' in here was 'borrowed' from my lovely Dilbert-A-Day calendar. :-)

**

"Josh Lyman, what the hell is this?" CJ demanded as she burst into his office on the Friday morning, waving a copy of the Washington Post around.

"Umm, well, it looks like a copy of the Post," Josh smirked.

"Don't even *try* to bring the funny, Josh," she warned. "Is this true?"

"Is what true?"

"Joshua!"

"What?"

CJ glared at him before turning around to face the open door. "Donnatella Moss, get in here!" she yelled.

Donna entered the office a few moments later and looked to Josh for explanation; he merely shrugged, but then, as CJ turned away to close the door, he grinned widely and briefly, stopping as soon as CJ turned around again.

"CJ, is something wrong?" Donna asked.

"Is this true?" she queried incredulously, placing the paper on Josh's desk for them both to see.

"Joshua Lyman and Donnatella Moss are pleased to declare that Claudia Jean Cregg is a psychic," Donna read aloud, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "Josh and Donna became engaged on Wednesday 26th March and are now delighted to announce the news to the World."

"You don't think it's true?" Josh asked CJ.

"You mean…it is?"

"Yes, it is," Donna said softly, raising her left hand to allow CJ to see her engagement ring.

"Oh. My. God!" CJ exclaimed, her incredulity and anger immediately forgotten. "Lemme see that," she demanded, pulling Donna's hand to her face for closer inspection. Her eyes widened in amazement and she turned to Josh, still grasping Donna's hand. "Did you choose this?" she asked.

"Why do you sound so skeptical, CJ?" Josh queried.

"Because I know you, Josh. *Did* you choose this?"

"It was a joint decision," Donna replied. "We went to the jewelers and looked around, we saw this one and we both knew."

"It's beautiful," CJ sighed, dropping Donna's hand so that she could clasp her own together.

"Like the person it belongs to," Josh murmured.

"Are you mad at us, CJ?" Donna asked, a little worry evident in her tone.

"I am about finding out through the newspaper," she replied slowly and honestly. "But I'm *overjoyed* about the actual engagement. Oh, come here," she gushed, pulling Donna into a hug.

Josh surveyed the scene in front of him with smiling eyes, watching Donna smile back at him as she enjoyed CJ's hug.

"Don't think you're getting out of this, Joshua," CJ announced as she let Donna go and crossed to his desk. "Come here." Josh rolled his eyes but stood up and wrapped his arms around CJ. "I'm happy for you both, I really mean that," she stated. "But why didn't you *tell* me?" she demanded suddenly, dropping her arms and stepping back from Josh to mock-glare at him. "Why announce it in the paper before telling me? Does Leo know…or the President?"

Stepping past CJ to reach Donna, Josh admitted, "No, the only people we told personally were Donna's parents and my mom." He stopped by Donna's side and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her close to his side.

"But why?" CJ asked incredulously. "Didn't you *want* to tell us?"

"We had planned to," Josh explained. "But then, when you put the prank notice in the paper, Leo told me that you guys never thought Donna and I would get engaged at the moment, and that even if we did, we wouldn't just announce it in the paper like that. I took that as a challenge," he grinned.

CJ rolled her eyes at him and let out a long sigh, processing the information. "Your notice says you've been engaged for over a week, Josh. Why wait until now?"

"We wanted to have some time to ourselves…to celebrate on our own," Josh answered, pulling Donna tighter and dropping a kiss on the side of her head. "We told our parents yesterday, and we had been going to tell you guys today but, then we decided to get our own back on you for putting a *fake* notice in the paper, by putting a *real* one of our own in. I got hold of Danny and…well, you can see the result for yourself."

"You told me on April Fool's Day that you'd never have written a notice like the one I did for you, but I don't see how *this* one is that much better," CJ said, pointing to the paper on Josh's desk, which was still lying open at the engagement notice.

"It would have been *much* better but, I wanted to include the bit about you being psychic," Josh smirked. "That kinda affected anything else I wanted to say."

"So, what *would* you have said?"

"*That*," Josh replied, "is now between me and Donna, and believe me, she knows *exactly* what I would have said."

Donna highlighted the truth in his words by kissing him soundly; they both grinned as a completely unladylike groan emitted from CJ. "Get a room," she grumbled good-naturedly.

"We already have one," Josh shot back with a grin. "This is *my* office."

CJ groaned again as she walked past them to leave the office. "You know, Josh, that smirk is gonna be wiped off your face at Senior Staff. Leo and the President will *not* be amused at finding out this way," she remarked pointedly. 

"That's alright," he replied. "I have someone to kiss my wounds better," he grinned, before pressing his lips to Donna's once again.

*

"Josh?"

"Hey," he smiled, looking up and meeting Donna's eyes. She closed his office door and took a seat in a visitor's chair. "What's up?" he asked with concern, noting her nervously wringing her hands together.

"Charlie called."

"Is something wrong?" he asked immediately, searching her face.

"No, he uh…he said that the President wants me to go with you to Senior Staff."

"Yeah?" He smiled at her but Donna didn't return the smile. "What's wrong? Wait, have you done something that I've yet to find out about? Donna, did you ask the President for his chili recipe or something, knowing he'd want to show us all how to make it?" He was trying to make her laugh and he achieved his goal, slightly, as Donna elicited a small chuckle.

"Josh, you *know* what this is going to be about; they're going to ream us out about putting the engagement notice in the paper before we told them. They're gonna be mad that we let them find out that way."

Donna's head was dipped as she finished speaking, so she didn't notice Josh quietly rise from his seat and move to sit on the front of his desk. He took her hands in his and squeezed them gently.

"Donna, they're not going to ream us out," he said softly. She looked up at him with hopeful eyes as he continued, "They might ream *me* out," he laughed, "but they'll know *you* weren't to blame; this has Lyman all over it."

"Josh—"

"Shh," he said, removing one of his hands so he could place a finger over her lips. "Donna, you *know* they're gonna be happy for us; you saw CJ's reaction, and she's the one who's gonna have the biggest headache over this. If I thought for one second that they would be mad at us, I'd never have gone through with the prank of announcing our engagement in the paper; that would take the shine off what is the happiest occasion in my life. It'll be fine, they'll just want you there so they can congratulate you."

"Or commiserate with me," she added, grinning up at him.

"You're over your worry then?" he guessed with a laugh.

"Yeah, you know how to talk a good talk, Josh," she replied, full of sarcasm.

"Okay, well, let's go." He pulled her with him as he stood up and gazed into her eyes for a few moments, breaking the trance between them with a quick kiss. "Let's face the music," he smirked, holding the door open for her to leave the office and then striding down the corridor with her, a hand held against her back.

*

"Oh look, it's the happy couple," CJ said wryly as Josh and Donna entered the Oval Office.

Donna looked at Josh with slightly worried eyes and he grabbed her left hand in his right, offering her silent support.

"You have something to tell us, I believe," Leo stated pointedly.

"Yeah, we do," Josh agreed. They all looked at him expectantly and he grinned. "You should all read the engagement notices in today's Post; I think you'll find something of interest there."

"Josh!" Donna gasped, looking at him with horror; she really didn't want to antagonize anyone, as she was already worried that they hadn't taken finding out about the engagement through the paper all that well.

Much to Donna's relief, the President started laughing, and was soon joined by CJ, Will and Toby. However, Leo remained silent, and this caused Josh to start to worry.

"Leo, is something wrong?" Josh asked quietly, searching Leo's face for any sign of his feelings.

"I'm disappointed that you didn't tell us in person, Josh," Leo replied. "I thought I…we *all* deserved better than finding out through a newspaper."

Josh swallowed hard and Donna felt his shoulders sag beside her. It was her turn to squeeze his hand in an offer of support and he smiled at her briefly in return.

"Leo, I…" he stopped and amended his statement as Donna tugged at his hand slightly. "*We* never meant to hurt you, any of you. We thought this would be funny, you know, after you said it would never happen." Josh's eyes were downcast and he gripped Donna's hand more tightly while Leo's silence deafened them. Even though the President didn't appear too concerned, Josh was more worried about Leo's reaction; he didn't want to hurt Leo, it would hurt *him* to hurt Leo.

"Well," Leo replied, his tone still slightly stern, "it's just as well I did find it funny then, isn't it?"

Josh and Donna's heads snapped up to look at Leo. They found him smiling at them, his eyes twinkling, and they felt each other let out sighs of relief.

"You're good, Leo," Josh laughed. Everyone else echoed his laughter and he dropped Donna's hand so that he could wrap an arm around her waist. "I take it you are all happy with our news then?"

"Of course we are, Josh. Congratulations," the President beamed, crossing the room and stretching his hand out. Josh shook his hand and was surprised when the President drew him into a brief hug. "You are a lucky, lucky man, Joshua; I hope you realize that," he said in Josh's ear.

"I do, Sir," Josh replied honestly.

"And as for you, Donnatella," the President continued, kissing the back of Donna's right hand, "I hope you realize what you're letting yourself in for."

"I do, Sir," she grinned. The President enveloped her in a tight hug and out of the corner of her eye, she spied Josh smiling proudly – a mixture of pride in Donna and his 'I'm da man' look.

The next few minutes involved Josh shaking hands with Will and Toby, even receiving a slap on the back from Toby, much to Josh's shock, and then Donna receiving a kiss on the cheek from each of them. Leo waited until they were finished before crossing the room to offer his own personal congratulations.

"Donna, you know that if you ever need anything…even someone to knock some sense into Josh, I'm always here; of course, you do that particular task better than any of us, but…"

"Thanks, Leo," she replied, obviously touched by the sentiment; Josh noticed moisture in her eyes and took her hand again, dropping it to allow Leo to give her a brief hug.

"Now, Josh," Leo said slowly, holding Josh's gaze. He paused and Josh's eyes grew wide with anticipation and apprehension.

"Leo?" he prompted.

"I have a message for you from your mother, Joshua."

"Wh…what?" Josh stammered, wondering what was going on.

"She called me last night and told me to tell you that she and Noah brought you up to respect your elders and your friends, therefore, she was not particularly impressed when you told her how the rest of us were going to find out about your engagement." Leo left his statement hanging there for a moment, waiting for the realization to hit Josh.

"You knew!" Josh exclaimed suddenly.

"Of course I did, Josh; I know everything." Josh rolled his eyes as Leo laughed heartily. "I agree with your mother, by the way, you should have told me in person, but I know why you didn't; you wanted to play another prank. Of course, *that* means that you've gone against my 'no prank' rule and will therefore have to be punished." Josh laughed but stopped when Leo stared at him with raised eyebrows. "You find something amusing, Josh?"

"Uh…no," he stammered in reply, causing Donna to laugh out loud at his expense.

*

"CJ, are you ready?" Carol asked as she entered her boss's office.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for the aspirin to kick in."

"Aspirin? You have a headache?"

"Two headaches actually, named Josh and Donna."

Carol chuckled at CJ's comment. "You think it's gonna be bad in there?" she queried, waving in the direction of the press room.

"Carol, you weren't even brave enough to stick around while I read the notice in the paper this morning, you disappeared off to help Ginger; you know exactly how bad it's gonna be in there."

"But, CJ, it's not like it wasn't expected…eventually."

"Oh, I'm not bothered about getting questions on their engagement," CJ stated emphatically. "I'm bothered because I *know* at least one person is gonna comment on the fact that they actually got engaged before the prank notice in the paper on April 1st."

"Danny?" Carol guessed. CJ just looked at her and Carol couldn't stifle her grin. "I'm sure he won't tease you too much."

"No?" CJ said skeptically. "You obviously weren't around when these were delivered then, were you?" She lifted a basket of flowers from the floor behind her desk and placed it on top of the desk.

"They're beautiful," Carol smiled. "They're from Danny?"

"Yeah."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Read the card!" she replied, removing the card from its holder in the basket and holding it out for Carol.

"To Madame Psychic," Carol read aloud. "We are a match made in heaven; I too can predict the future – I predict that we are destined to be together. Love, Danny." Carol grinned as she looked at CJ's face. "Aww, CJ, it's cute."

*  
  
"I believe you wanted so see me," Danny said with mirth as he entered CJ's office.

"You!" she pointed in exclamation. "Are a rabble rouser!"

"You know, if you keep accusing me of that, I'm gonna start to believe it," he grinned. "What rabble am I supposed to have roused this time?"

"The Press Corps!"

"Really? You think the Press Corps are a rabble? I don't think they'll take too kindly to hearing that, CJ."

"Danny," she warned in a low voice, although it held no venom. "That was an ambush in there; you set me up."

"And there you go with the accusations again," he shrugged. "How could *I* have *rabble roused*? You didn't even call on me for the first question."

"No, I didn't, and there was a reason for that," she grumbled. "I knew what you would say."

"Because you're psychic?" Danny laughed.

"You know, I'm *so* tempted to kick you out of my office, but I won't, 'cos I'm not done yelling at you yet." Danny continued to chuckle but was soon silenced by CJ's glare. "How did you do it? What did you bribe them with?"

"Do what? Bribe who?" Danny asked in as innocent a voice as he could muster.

"Bribe the Press Corps. I *know* you made sure that no matter who I called on first, they were all gonna ask the same question."

"What question?"

"The one I was asked!"

"Huh…what was that again? I forget."

CJ glared at him but he gave her a blank look until she finally gave in. Putting on her best imitation voice of Katie the reporter, she said, "CJ, can you tell me next week's lottery numbers? Since you're psychic and all."

A burst of laughter could be heard through the door, coming from Carol. It was echoed by Danny, who was laughing heartily, while smirking widely at CJ.

"What makes you think *I* had anything to do with that?"

"Don't even try to deny it, Danny," she warned.

"I see you got my flowers," he smiled, pointing at the basket on her desk. CJ followed his gaze and furrowed her brow.

"Carol!" she yelled. When her assistant opened the door, CJ asked, "How did the flowers get back on my desk? I distinctly remember putting them back on the floor earlier, before I went to do the briefing."

"Uh, maybe they just hopped on up there?" Carol suggested. "Danny, did you put jumping beans in the arrangement?" she queried, grinning at Danny.

"No, but, hey, maybe Gail lifted them up, so she could see them. You know, since she knew they were from me?"

Carol burst out laughing again and CJ rolled her eyes, pointing to the door and saying, "Out!" Carol left the office, her laughter growing even louder as she closed the door behind her.

"As for you," CJ continued, narrowing her eyes at Danny, "is this going to be the end of it, or are there more *delights* in store for me?"

"Well, I dunno, CJ," he replied. "What kind of *delights* did you have in mind? There are one or two things I'd more than happily oblige with," he smirked, waggling his eyebrows.

CJ couldn't help laughing at his outrageous flirting but she regained her composure and looked at him seriously. "I mean it, Danny; this better be the end of it."

"CJ, watch your tone," he admonished. "You're gonna scare Gail. She's gonna be thinking that her parents are getting divorced and then she'll start worrying that she'll need two fishbowls; one here and one at my place for when she visits as part of the custody arrangement."

"Get out!" CJ laughed.

Danny grinned as he exited the office, leaving the door open; Josh was waiting for him outside.

"Well?"

"Yeah, she's pissed," Danny laughed in reply.

"Josh Lyman!" CJ exclaimed, standing in her doorway with a look of amazement on her face. "You were in on this? On the ambush?"

Josh just smirked at her and wrapped an arm around Danny's shoulders. "We make a good team, don't we?"

"You're gonna pay," she vowed. "Both of you!"

*

"So, how many messages of congratulations have you had?" Josh queried as he sat on the edge of Donna's desk later that night.

"One or two…and a lot of messages of commiseration," she grinned. Josh narrowed his eyes and she mischievously added, "I was also told that there are now a lot of broken hearts as a result of our engagement."  
  
"Yeah, I know, my fanclub is devastated," he immediately shot back.

Donna rolled her eyes before asking, "How about you? How many congratulations messages?"

"A few," he replied. He fell silent for a moment, watching Donna finish typing up some notes to e-mail to Leo before they went home. "You know, everyone reckons you're a very lucky woman to be marrying me," he said with a smirk.

Donna's head rose quickly and she pinned him with a look, her eyebrows raised. "Really, Josh, everyone on Earth? Even Tibetan Monks?"

"Well, maybe it was just one person," he admitted.

"And you confused them with the entire planet? How did you get your job again?"

"You know, you're not nice when you're being a smart-ass," he told her, mock-glaring.

"Sure I am," she grinned. "Anyway, who was this one person that reckons *I'm* the lucky one?"

"Sam."

"Sam?" Donna laughed. "Okay, so Sam is now admitting to having deep-rooted feelings and affection for the man I'm going to marry, is he? Should I be worried?"

"Don't start," Josh warned, standing up and moving to the rear of her chair to tickle her from behind.

"No, seriously, Josh," Donna said, grabbing his hands to still them and twisting in her chair to look at him. "*Should* I be worried? Do you return Sam's feelings?"

"Alright, that's it, come here," he laughed, pulling his hands from hers and placing them around her waist to pull her from her chair. "Am I gonna have to prove my feelings for you again?"

"Maybe," she smirked. "But, we'd better wait until we get home; I don't think CJ will react as well as she did today if she opens tomorrow's papers to find a story about us being caught *at it* in your office."

"My office?" he grinned. "I was thinking more along the lines of CJ's office…she has a couch."

Donna let out a sigh as she turned around to type the last word of her e-mail and hit 'send'. "Okay, before you get us in any more trouble, let's go home."

**

The End

Next up…yes, more pranks. g


	8. Roses and Dresses

TITLE: "Roses and Dresses"

Disclaimers, etc. as in Part 1

**

"So, Donna, it's been three weeks since you and Josh made your *official* engagement announcement, have you set a wedding date yet?" CJ asked as they ate yogurts in their favorite café.

"No, not yet…well, not really anyway." At CJ's confused look, Donna smiled and explained further. "We're gonna wait until Congress is out of session for the summer, so that we can get some time off for a honeymoon. We haven't set an actual date though, it'll just be sometime around then."

"Josh is actually agreeing to take time off for a honeymoon?" CJ queried with a skeptical laugh.

Donna smirked as she replied, "I have my ways of persuading him." 

"I bet you do," CJ laughed.

*

"Hey, Josh."

"Hey, CJ, what can I do for you?" he asked, removing his feet from his desk and giving her his full attention.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to congratulate you on putting Donna first and agreeing to take time off for a honeymoon," she replied, closing the office door as she spoke.

"You didn't think I'd put Donna first?" he queried, with a little hurt in his tone.

"Of course I did, Josh, I know you always put Donna first. I'm just surprised you're taking actual time off, you know, other than just a long weekend or something."

"Well, I figure I'll get a reward for being a good husband," he grinned.

"Typical," she replied, rolling her eyes at him. "So, have you decided what *kind* of a wedding you're gonna have?"

"Huh?"

"You know, small, large, where, that kind of stuff?"

"Uh, CJ, didn't you just have lunch with Donna?"

"Yeah."

"So, why didn't you ask *her* all this instead of me?"

"I did, and now I'm asking you."

"What, don't you think we'll agree or something?" he chuckled.

"No, it's just…Josh, Donna said that you want a small wedding, a small private ceremony."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, have you talked to the President lately?"

"I talk to the President every day, CJ; it's kinda my job."

"Josh, don't be a smart-ass. I mean it, have you talked to him about your wedding?"

"No, and you know why? 'Cos I'm not marrying the *President*, I'm marrying Donna; this is between us. Why do I need to talk to the President?"

"Well, you are gonna invite him, aren't you?"

"Yeah, of course we are."

"Well then, you need to consider the fact that wherever he goes, there's a Secret Service entourage and security issues to consider."

"I know all that, CJ. Is there gonna be a point anytime soon?"

"He's had a few ideas about your wedding…you should talk to him."

"The President has had ideas about *my* wedding? And he's talked to *you* about them?" Josh exclaimed in amazement.

"Yeah, and you should talk to him, Josh."

"I don't think I will, but you know, thanks all the same."

"Josh, he's your boss, and he's the *President*."

"Yeah, and that's why it took so long for anything to happen between Donna and I, CJ. Look, he has no input to my wedding, other than as a guest, the same as everyone else. Yes, there are security issues to be considered, and they will be considered when we decide on a venue. Yes, there is his schedule to consider, and it will be considered when we decide on a date. But, I am not going to have *anyone* dictate how, when and where Donna and I should get married; it's *our* decision. You got that, CJ?" he asked angrily.

"You finished your little rant there, Josh?" she asked with raised eyebrows, staring him down.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, swallowing hard. "Sorry, it's just…this has to be between Donna and I."

"You still have to talk to the President, Josh. *And*, whatever he says, you have to talk it over with Donna; like you said, she has input into this decision, she might like his ideas."

"You obviously know what his ideas are, why don't you just tell me?"

"And ruin it for the President? I don't think so. Listen, he has some time free tonight, go see him."

"Yeah," Josh agreed reluctantly, watching CJ give him an encouraging smile as she left his office.

*

"Hey," Josh smiled tiredly, returning from his meeting with the President to find Donna sitting behind his desk with her coat on, waiting for him.

"Hi. You ready to go, or do we need to work on something else?"

"No, let's go. I…I do need to talk to you though."

"Is something wrong?" she asked, searching his face and frowning at the worry lines she found there.

"Yeah, no, I…let's go home, we'll talk there."

"Josh?" Donna quizzed worriedly. "Has something happened? Did the President say something?"

"No," he sighed. "Well, yeah but, we shouldn't talk about it here. It's not work related, so let's go home." He had donned his coat and grabbed his backpack and held out a hand to pull Donna from the chair.

"Josh, you're worrying me. What's going on? What did the President need to see you about that's not work related?"

"Us," he replied honestly, locking his eyes with hers. He picked up her bag from the floor and passed it to her before taking her hand again to lead her from the office. "He has a few ideas about the wedding that we need to talk about."

"Like what?" she queried, dropping his hand and not walking any further.

"Please, Donna," he begged. "It's late, let's go home and we'll talk there, I promise."

She nodded silently and slipped a hand through his offered arm, letting him lead her from the building.

*

"So, what are the President's ideas then?" Donna asked as soon as they entered their apartment and had hung up their coats.

"Donna," Josh whined. "We've only just got home, can't we wait a few minutes?"  


"No, Josh. You wouldn't tell me in the car, you said we should wait until we got home. Well, we're now home, so let's talk. What did the President say? You seem worried about it, does he want us to call it off?" she asked nervously.

"No," Josh smiled, stepping towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Of course he doesn't want us to call it off." He dropped a kiss on her temple and then released her. "Let's sit down, okay?" he said, motioning towards the couch.

Donna sat on the couch and Josh took a seat on the coffee table, facing her and taking her hands in his.

"He asked me what ideas we'd had about the wedding, what kind of ceremony, etc. I told him that we were thinking of asking Judge Mendoza to marry us, in a small private ceremony, with just our family and close friends there, including the President and First Lady, of course."

"And?" Donna prompted when he hesitated.

"And," he sighed, "he said that it all sounded nice but he would suggest a few changes."

"Changes? Like what?"

Josh closed his eyes and rubbed his thumbs over the back of Donna's hands as he answered her question. "Well, the gist of it is that he thinks we should change *everything*, except…he's gonna let us keep Mendoza."

"What? Josh, I don't understand."

He dropped her hands and brought his hands up to cup her face. Looking deep into her eyes and letting out a long sigh, he said, "He wants us to get married in the Rose Garden, make it a big event. I'm sorry, Donna, I know we agreed to keep it small."

"You told him we'd do it?" she quizzed, leaning back against the couch so that his hands were no longer on her face. "I can't…you agreed to this without even talking to *me*?"

"No! Donna, I…I told him I'd have to talk to you about it, of course I did," he replied, shifting his position so that he was perched on the very edge of the coffee table. Taking her hands again and locking his gaze with her, he continued, "But, I don't see how we can argue. Believe me, I wanted to, and I was going to, but I was *this close*," he said, releasing one of her hands so he could bring his thumb and index finger very close together, "to exploding in the Oval Office, and I didn't think that would go down very well." He sighed again, showing his frustration. "It's what he wants, Donna. He's the *President*, we serve at his pleasure."

"I know that, Josh. But, our marriage isn't anything to do with the Bartlet Administration. We talked about this, you told me it wouldn't be a problem, that everyone would respect our wishes." Josh closed his eyes again; the hurt in Donna's tone cutting into his heart as he realized that she felt he'd let her down.

"I'm sorry, I really am. Look, I'm gonna talk to Leo tomorrow, see if he can help us out."

"Yeah?" She looked at him hopefully and he gave her a weak smile.

"Yeah. Hey, whatever happens, we're still gonna get married. If it has to be with all the fanfare, then so be it; I just want to be married to you, Donna."

"I know," she said gently, leaning forward and capturing his lips.

"I won't even know anyone else is at the ceremony," he said against her lips. "I'll only see you."

"Josh," she sighed contentedly, kissing him deeply. "You say the sweetest things sometimes."

*

"Donna, are you okay?"

Donna looked up from her desk to find CJ watching her intently. "Oh, hey, CJ. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You and Josh have seemed a little…off the last couple of days. Is something wrong?"

"No," she smiled. "We're fine."

"You sure?" Donna nodded. "Okay, but you know I'm here if you need anything, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Thanks."

*

"CJ?" Donna said, entering her friend's office late that evening.

"Hi, Donna," she smiled.

"You were right." CJ gave her a blank look. "This morning, when you thought something was wrong with Josh and I, you were right."

"Oh, God. What did he do?"

Donna couldn't help laughing. "He didn't do anything, CJ; this isn't Josh's fault."

"Really?" she queried skeptically.

"Yeah," Donna smiled. "There's nothing he could have done about this."

"So, what's wrong?" CJ inquired, motioning for Donna to take a seat.

"The President wants us to have a big wedding, in the Rose Garden."

"And you don't want that?" she asked, her brow furrowed.

"Not really, no. Like I told you before, we planned to have a small wedding, just close friends and family."

"Yeah, but Donna, didn't you always dream of having a big wedding? I mean, most people would jump at the chance to get married in the Rose Garden of the White House. It's every little girl's dream, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I used to dream of a big wedding when I was a little girl," Donna admitted. "But now," she continued, clasping her hands together, "I just want something quiet. As long as Josh is there, that's all that matters."

"Are you sure, Donna? You're not just saying that because it's what Josh wants?"  
  
"No," she sighed. "It's what we *both* want…wanted. But now…"

"The President wants a big wedding for you."

"Yeah," she said sadly.

"Have you told the President this?"

"Josh told him what we were planning, but you've talked to the President about this, you know he has his heart set on a Rose Garden wedding, with numerous politicians there. Josh tried to talk to Leo about it, even pointed out that it's probably not ethical to have our wedding here, but Leo didn't want to start an argument with the President. We can't go against his wishes, CJ. We just have to accept it and try to figure out a way to plan a huge wedding in only a few months."

"The planning part won't be a problem," CJ replied; Donna looked at her inquisitively. "You have plenty of people around to help you, me for one."  
  
"Thanks, CJ. Listen, I should go, let you get back to work. Thanks for listening to me."

"I'm sorry, Donna," CJ said sincerely.

"It's okay. It's not like any of this is your fault."

*

"Josh, have a seat," the President said, indicating the chair opposite where he was sitting in the Oval Office.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Yes, I believe you and Donna are not very happy about the idea of a big wedding."

"Who told you that, Sir?" Josh asked with surprise.

"CJ came to see me. She said that she was talking to Donna about it, and that neither of you are very happy with the situation."  


"I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't expect Donna to say anything…"

"Josh, it's alright. I just want to know why you didn't tell me."

"You seemed to have your heart set on a big, Rose Garden wedding, Sir."

"And I'm that much of an ogre that you couldn't have just told me that you and Donna really didn't want that?"

"Well, I did *try* to tell you, Sir. I mean, I told you we were just planning a quiet wedding."

The President looked at him seriously for a moment, holding his gaze. "Josh, I have something to tell you, and I don't want you to get mad at me."

"I can't exactly *get* mad at you, Sir; I could be fired for that."

"True, Josh, very true," he smiled. "Okay," he started, and then paused and let out a breath. "I never really wanted you and Donna to have a big wedding." Josh's eyes grew wide. "You two deserve every privacy, your relationship has already been played out in front of the Press, you certainly don't need more intrusion on your wedding day."

"Sir?" Josh looked totally confused and the President smiled at him.

"It was a prank, Josh," he admitted.

"What?!"

"I knew you wanted a quiet wedding, so I decided to say that I'd like a big event, just to wind you up. I never expected it to hurt you and Donna or I'd never have done it. I'm sorry, son."

"Why would you do that?" Josh demanded.

"I just wanted to have a little fun; I've been kinda left out of all the pranks lately, after the Vegas thing and the thing with Sam's assistant. CJ asked if I wanted in on this and I jumped at the chance."

"CJ?!"

"Ah, uh," the President stammered, realizing belatedly that he'd just revealed CJ's involvement in the prank.

"Sir, what part did CJ play in all this?"

The President knew that Josh would persist with his questioning until he got the answers he wanted, so he decided to fill him in quickly.

"She came up with the idea to say that I wanted you to have a big wedding. She had originally been going to say that it would make for good press, etc. but she didn't think she'd be able to get you convinced that way; that's why she came to me."

"I'm going to kill her," Josh vowed.

"Now, Josh, you're not going to do that."

"Oh, I am," Josh insisted.

"Are you sure you want to do that just yet?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Think about it, Josh. Do you want to 'tip your hand' so soon?"

"You mean…"

"Yes, I'm sure you'll come up with something, and I'm more than happy to help out."

"Thank you, Sir," Josh grinned. "Just to clarify, I can tell Donna that we can have a small wedding?"

"Yes, you can. I'm looking forward to receiving my invitation."  
  
Josh stood and walked towards the door to the outer office. Stopping as his fingers touched the door handle, he turned around and looked back at the President. "Well, you know, Sir, after the stunt you just pulled on us, I wouldn't be so sure that you'll be *getting* an invitation," he smirked. The President let out a hearty laugh as Josh left the office.

*

"Sam, it's good to see you," Donna said, giving Sam a brief hug when she and Josh joined him in the restaurant.

"You too, Donna. I can't believe I'm in D.C. yet hardly get to see you guys."

"That's because you're too busy being a pain in our asses," Josh mock-complained.

"Hey!"

"Josh, play nice with Congressman Seaborn," Donna warned, waving her hand to beckon CJ and Toby over as they entered the restaurant.

"Hi, CJ," Sam greeted, giving CJ a kiss on the cheek. "Toby." The two men shook hands before sitting down.

"So, Josh, you called us all here, and I assume you're paying, so, to what do we owe the honor?" CJ inquired with a grin.

"Okay, well firstly, I never said I was paying, so get that out of your head right now."

"Damn, and I was gonna order the lobster," CJ sassed.

"You're not paying?" Toby tried to clarify.

"No, I'm not," Josh confirmed.

Toby looked to CJ and then to Sam. "Let's go," he said, starting to rise from his seat.

"Whoa there, Tobus," Josh smirked. "Just 'cos I'm not paying, doesn't mean you guys have to." They all looked at him blankly and then Donna got his meaning.

"Joshua!" she admonished.

"What?" he defended, raising his hands to stop Donna from hitting him. "You were the one who didn't want to do this in the office."

"And you were the one who refused to have them all over to our apartment," Donna stated, raising her eyebrows at him in challenge.

"You didn't want us in your apartment?" Sam sounded hurt.

"No, but there's a reason," Josh said lamely. CJ, Sam and even Toby looked at him pointedly, awaiting an explanation. "Last time you guys came over you made a real mess of the place; there were beer bottles and pizza boxes everywhere, not to mention the bits of cheese that Sam managed to amazingly miss his mouth with." They stared at him in disbelief and he added weakly, "Donna made me clean the place up, since I ordered the pizza."

"No, Josh," Donna interjected. "I made you clean the mess up because *you* caused most of it, as a result of going over your two beer limit when you hadn't eaten all day."

"This is all very interesting," Toby said dryly, "but can we get back to the topic of who is paying for this meal?"

"Donna," Josh grinned.

"That's okay, I don't mind," Donna smiled.

"You don't?" Josh asked with surprise.

"No, I don't," she confirmed sweetly.

"You're gonna charge it to my credit card, aren't you?"

"Bet your ass I am," she grinned.

"Okay, well, now that that's settled, care to fill us in on why we're here?" Sam asked. "I mean, other than to enjoy each other's company," he added hastily, noticing CJ's glare in his direction.

"Let's order, then we'll talk," Josh suggested.

*

As their empty entrée plates were cleared away Josh became serious, interrupting the jovial banter between CJ and Sam.

"You wanna know why we've called you here then?" he asked.

"God, Josh, you make it sound like an Agatha Christie novel," Donna complained.

"What?" he laughed, furrowing his brow at her.

"You know, the bit at the end where Hercule Poirot always brings all the suspects together to reveal the murderer."

"Ah kay," Josh smiled. "Your way of thinking never ceases to amaze me, Donnatella." They locked their gazes and smiled intensely at each other.

"Hey, guys, you know we're still here, right?" Sam interrupted.

"Sorry," Josh smirked. "Where was I?"  
  
"You were gonna tell us why you invited us to dinner," CJ answered.

"Right, yeah." He stopped talking again and took Donna's hand, bringing their joined hands up and placing them on the table. "Well, as you know, Donna and I are getting married." They all nodded. "And, as you also know, the President wants us to have a big wedding, which Donna and I are not happy about." CJ dipped her head, but both Josh and Donna noticed her guilty look and they shared a small smile. "Anyway," Josh continued, "I had a chat with the President last night; somehow he'd found out that Donna and I weren't happy with his idea." He looked pointedly at CJ as he spoke and saw the slight blush in her cheeks. "It's okay, CJ, we're glad you talked to him," he smiled. "He said that he never wanted to make Donna and I unhappy, he just wanted us to have the perfect setting for our wedding, and he thought the Rose Garden would be good." He noticed Toby beginning to shift impatiently and he let out a long breath. "To cut a long story short, the President has offered Donna and I the use of his farm in Manchester; we're going to have the ceremony and reception in the grounds."  
  
"In *Manchester*?" CJ gasped.

"Yeah," Josh confirmed. "He said that he talked to the First Lady before he talked to me and they both agreed; they want to do this for Donna and I as a wedding present."

"I assumed you'd be getting married in D.C.," Sam said, voicing the thoughts of his two companions.

"So did we, Sam, but Congress will be out of session and things should be quiet, so there's no real need for us to be here. Manchester is pretty handy actually, as it'll be easier to travel to for Donna's family in Wisconsin and my family in Connecticut; my mom will come to D.C. first and then fly up with us on Air Force One."

"You seem to have it all figured out," CJ said, obviously pleased that the President hadn't revealed he had been playing a prank about the 'big wedding'. "You've set a date then?"

"No," Donna smiled. "Not yet. We're still trying to find something suitable. Apparently, a lot hinges on our honeymoon plans."

"Really? And what *are* your plans?" CJ inquired with a grin.

"Like we're gonna tell you, CJ," Josh laughed.

CJ caught Donna's eyes and mouthed the words "we're gonna talk later" to her, prompting Donna to smile and chuckle slightly.

"Anyway, none of that is really why we asked you all here," Josh said. They looked at him inquisitively and he instinctively grasped Donna's hand a little tighter. "We wanted to ask you all something, it is wedding-related though."

Josh paused and let Donna pick up the conversation. "CJ," she said, smiling at her friend, "I was wondering if you'd do me," she stopped as Josh tugged her hand, "sorry, *us*, the great honor of being one of our bridesmaids. Would you?"

"Of course I will!" CJ exclaimed, jumping from her seat and moving to envelop Donna in a hug. Josh let go of Donna's hand so that she could stand up and then he stood himself to kiss CJ's cheek.

"Thanks, CJ," Donna and Josh said in unison as they all sat down again.

"Does this mean we get to go dress shopping?" CJ asked eagerly. Josh earned an elbow in the ribs when Donna saw him roll his eyes.

"Kind of," Donna replied cryptically. "My sister is going to be the other bridesmaid, and I kinda promised my mom that she could choose the bridesmaids dresses, since she won't be here to help me choose mine," she explained. "I hope you don't mind, CJ."

"Of course I don't mind, Donna, I totally understand. I can help you choose *your* dress though, right?"

"Oh yeah. And we will have to go shoe shopping."

"Oh, God," Josh groaned. "I'm gonna have to hear about all the shoes you tried on and then get the added bonus of having to pay for the damn things, aren't I?"

"Well, we could always just call the whole thing off, Joshua," Donna pouted.

"Sorry," he mumbled apologetically.

"Josh, it's your turn," Donna prompted.

"Oh, yeah." He smiled and turned his attention to Sam and Toby. "Guys, we've been through a lot together," Josh said seriously, "and I would really like you both there with me when I do the most important thing I will ever do in my life, that's marrying Donna, by the way," he grinned, as Donna let out a long-suffering sigh. "Sam, would you do *us*," he said pointedly, smirking at Donna, "the great honor of being my best man? And Toby, I'd really like you there as a groomsman, right up there with Sam and I. It's not going to be a Jewish ceremony, but having you with me will make it seem more like one." He left his statements hanging there and watched the myriad of emotions crossing Sam and Toby's faces.

"Josh, I'd be honored," Sam beamed, stretching out a hand to his friend.

"Toby?"

"I'm doing this for Donna, you understand," he stated as he shook Josh's hand.

"Of course," Josh grinned.

"There's just one thing I want to say," Donna interjected. "Toby, you're in charge of the bachelor party."

"Hey, that's the best man's job," Sam complained.

"Yeah, but we all know your track record, Sam; I don't want Josh ending up sleeping with a prostitute," she grinned.

"She was a call girl," Sam muttered. "And anyway," he continued, raising his voice to a normal level again, "I didn't meet her at a bachelor party, so that has nothing to do with this." There was no anger in his tone, so Donna felt safe to retort.

"No, but if you could *accidentally* sleep with a call girl, who knows what you'd end up actually *planning* for Josh," she grinned.

Sam opened his mouth to object but just gave a self-deprecating smile and a shrug of his shoulders. "Okay, Toby, we're co-planners," he said. Toby said nothing.

*

End of Part 1… I will post Part 2 either later today or tomorrow.

*

Part 2

**

"CJ, this came in the mail for you," Carol said as she dropped an A4-size envelope on CJ's desk.

"Is it urgent?" a harried CJ asked.

"Well, that depends on your point of view," Carol answered cryptically.

"Carol."

"Okay," Carol laughed. "It's from Donna's mom."

That caught CJ's attention and she grabbed the envelope, pulling out its contents as she asked, "The dress?" Carol nodded. "Have you looked at it?"

"Uh…um…"

"Carol?"

"You should see for yourself, CJ," Carol suggested, surreptitiously closing the office door and then taking a seat in a visitor's chair, carefully watching CJ's reaction as she flipped through the dress catalogue.

"Which page is it on?" CJ asked as she turned over numerous pages.

Carol leaned forward in her chair. "Oh, I think you've already passed it."

"I can't have," CJ stated. "None of those were…" She stopped and looked up at Carol. "No!"

Carol gave her a pitying smile and turned back a few pages until she found the one where the dress was marked. "That's it," she said, pointing at the picture.

"You've got to be kidding me!" CJ exclaimed. "Is this some kind of joke? Are you trying to mess with me?" she accused, picking up the empty envelope and looking at it's postmark.

"No, I'm not and, to be honest, I would agree that it was a joke if the catalogue had come from Donna, but it came from her mom, sent directly to you."

"But it's…it's…" CJ spluttered.

"I know," Carol said sympathetically.

"Have we gone back in time to the '80's? You know, to when these…*things* were in fashion?" CJ had dropped the catalogue like it was a hot iron and was covering her face with her hands, peering through her parted fingers at the offending picture, somehow hoping it would look better that way.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," CJ practically whimpered.

"Donna's mom does know what you look like, right?"

"Yeah," she replied sadly. "I've even met her once."

"So she knows that…"

"That I won't look good in a dress that is designed to imitate a pink marshmallow? I would have thought so, yeah," she answered glumly.

"Maybe you should talk to Donna?" Carol suggested.

"And tell her what, 'Donna, I'm sorry but your mom needs her head examined'?"

"Well, no," Carol smiled. "I wouldn't recommend putting it quite like that."

CJ threw her head back and clasped her hands together, stretching them out in front of her to try and relieve some of her tension.

Letting out a large sigh and leaning forward on her desk once more, she said, "I can't talk to Donna; she already feels guilty that her mom can't be here to be involved in choosing the bridal gown, if I tell her that I hate her mom's choice for the bridesmaids dresses, she'll be devastated. I can't do that to her."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I have no idea."

"Surely Donna will realize herself, once she sees her mom's choice?"

"Yeah, maybe," CJ said with a hint of hopefulness in her tone. "But, even if she does hate the dress choice, she's not going to want to tell her mom that, is she?"

"CJ, it's *her* wedding."

"Yeah, but I can't see her being prepared to hurt her mom's feelings even more, and I wouldn't blame her."

"Hey, maybe this is her mom's way of ensuring that no-one shows up the bride, you know, so that no-one will look better than Donna?"

"Carol," CJ said incredulously, "do you really think *anyone* is going to look better than Donna, even if the bridesmaids were wearing decent dresses?"

"No, I guess not," Carol admitted with a laugh.

"Oh, God," she groaned. "Listen, Carol, do me a favor?"

"No, I'm not going to tell Donna you hate her mom's dress choice."

"That's not what I was going to ask," CJ said with a glare.

"It's not?"

"No." She paused for a moment and Carol looked at her inquisitively. "Okay, here's what we're going to do –"

"*We*?"

"Yes, *we*; you are now involved in this Carol, unless you can guarantee that you won't laugh at me if I'm forced to wear that dress to the wedding."

"Uh…okay, what are we going to do?"

"Deny all knowledge."

"Huh?"

"You're going to take this away," CJ explained, putting the dress catalogue back in its envelope, "and, if Donna asks, you'll tell her that it hasn't arrived yet."

"You want me to lie?" Carol questioned, her eyes wide and her mouth turned up in a smile.

"No, I…I just don't want you to tell the truth, that's all."

"CJ, you've been working with politicians for too long," Carol laughed.

"Don't I know it," CJ muttered. "Anyway, take it away and hide it," she instructed, passing the envelope to Carol.

"What's that going to achieve? Even if we say it must have got lost in the mail, all Donna needs to do is get her mom to send it again."

"Yeah, but it'll buy me some time to come up with a plan."

"Okay. I think you're crazy, but okay," Carol grinned, putting the envelope inside a folder as she left the office.

*

The next part of CJ's plan fell into place the following day, as she persuaded Carol to join Donna for lunch in the mess.

"So, Donna, how's your sister doing? Is she looking forward to being a bridesmaid?"

"Yeah," Donna smiled, "she is. She keeps telling me that it's about damn time."

"She and your mom have chosen the bridesmaids dresses, I hear?"

"Yeah…well no, actually, my mom chose them."

"Oh, yeah, that's right, CJ mentioned that."

"Has the catalogue my mom sent to CJ not arrived yet?" Donna inquired.

"Uh, no," Carol said quickly, dipping her head slightly to avoid Donna's gaze.

"Hmm, that's strange. She said the company has an Internet site, I'll maybe have a look on that."

"Uh, yeah, maybe you should," Carol agreed, causing Donna to look at her strangely.

"Carol, is something wrong?"

"No," she smiled.

"Are you sure? You just…are you *sure* the dress catalogue hasn't arrived?"

"What makes you ask that?" Carol replied, deflecting Donna's question.

"I don't know, you just seem…it seems like you're trying to find something out, without actually asking me. What is it?"

"You think I'd try something like that with you?" she asked, once again answering a question with a question.

"I'm surprised you are, given that I live and work with Josh and know how to handle myself, but yeah, that's exactly what you're doing; what's going on?"

"Nothing, Donna, honestly," Carol assured her. "I just think that maybe the catalogue got lost in the mail, so looking on the Internet would be a good idea." Donna stared at her for a moment but didn't say anything. "Does your sister like the dress your mom chose?" Carol asked, trying to sound completely innocent with her question.

"Yeah, she said it's really nice, and my mom *loves* it," Donna smiled.

Carol inwardly groaned at Donna's words, knowing that CJ was going to do a lot of yelling when she imparted the information to her. She decided it was time to change the subject before Donna asked what was going on again, so they spent the rest of their lunch break discussing Danny trying to get back in CJ's love life.

*

"So, Josh, how long is it now until the wedding?" Leo asked as he and Josh finished their meeting.

"About two months," Josh smiled.

"You've actually set a date, I hear."

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"So, does that mean you have the honeymoon problems sorted out?"

"Huh?"  
  
"CJ told me that the date of the wedding depended on the honeymoon arrangements; were there problems with flights or something?"

"No, not really, I just had a few things to organize, that's all."

"Where are you going?" Leo inquired as Josh prepared to leave the office.

"Uh, back to my office," Josh replied, turning back to look at Leo. "I have another meeting to prepare for."  
  
"No, I meant where are you going on honeymoon?"

"I'm not gonna tell you *that*, Leo," Josh grinned.

"It's okay, Josh, CJ told me anyway."  
  
"CJ?" he asked with surprise.

"Yeah, she said you're going to Hawaii."  


"I *am*? Uh, okay, that's not actually true, but if that's what CJ wants to believe…"

"It's what Donna told her."  


"Donna? *Donna* told her that we're going to Hawaii?"

"Yes, are you saying you're *not* going to Hawaii?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"So, where *are* you going?"

Josh smirked. "I'm still not gonna tell you that."

"Was Donna just trying to throw CJ off the scent?" Leo guessed.

"No, Donna doesn't know where we're going."

"She doesn't?" Leo questioned with obvious surprise. "Doesn't she have a say in it?"

"No, I said I wanted to organize it all and keep it as a surprise for her."

"And Donna *agreed* to that?" he grinned.

"Hey! Yes, she agreed; she thinks it's romantic," Josh smirked.

"Josh, you have actually *booked* something, right? You don't want to leave it until the last minute, you know."

"I know, Leo," he laughed. "Don't worry, it's all booked."

"Good, in that case, all I have to do is call all the airlines and get them to check their passenger lists for around the date of your wedding and I'll be able to find out where you're going."  
  
"Who says we're flying?" Josh smirked.

"Josh, you're not just gonna drive her to somewhere in New England, are you?"

"No," he laughed. "We're flying, but the airlines won't give you any information, they're not allowed to."

"You do remember who I am, don't you, Josh?" Leo smirked.

"Yeah, but the airline I'm booked with also knows who *I* am so, they won't tell you anything," he retorted with a huge grin.

"I kinda outrank you, Josh, and I could easily get the President to call them."  
  
"But you won't, 'cos you won't want to ruin this, you know, possibly give it away and ruin it for Donna, and for me."

"I will be able to get in contact with you while you're away, if I need to, won't I?"

"Yeah, you'll be able to get hold of us, in a *dire emergency*, and we'll be able to fly home if we need to," Josh stated. "I'll give you the flight details as we leave the farm and will contact you again once we get to our destination." Josh looked at him seriously for a moment and then smirked. "And, if I find out that in the meantime you've discovered where we're going, it will be easy enough for me to change it."

"I get your point, Josh."

"I hope so, 'cos I wouldn't want to have to tell my mom that you're planning to sabotage my honeymoon," he threatened with a smile.

"Go!"

*

"Josh, I have to talk to you," CJ said as she entered his office, shut the door and took a seat.

"What's up?" Josh asked with intrigue.

"It's about the wedding."

Josh furrowed his brow. "*My* wedding?" CJ nodded. "What about it?"

"Well, you know Donna asked me to be a bridesmaid?"  
  
"Actually, we *both* asked you, CJ," he corrected.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," CJ smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, you know Donna's mom is choosing the bridesmaids dresses?"  
  
"Yeah, since she can't be here to help Donna choose her dress," he smiled.

"Josh, has Donna *seen* the dress her mom has chosen?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so, but I really don't know. Why?"

"It's hideous," she groaned.

"What?"

"Josh, there's no *way* I can wear it."

"CJ," Josh started. "Wait, hold that thought," he instructed, raising his voice to yell, "Donna!"

Donna opened the door moments later. "Josh?"

"Josh!" CJ exclaimed, her eyes wide and threatening.

"Donna, CJ has something to tell you," he informed her. Donna stepped into the office, leaving the door slightly ajar, and looked at CJ.

"Josh!" CJ gasped.

"CJ, you should tell her."

"Tell me what?" Donna asked, beginning to get worried.

Josh waited for CJ to speak but, when she remained silent, he decided to do it for her. "CJ doesn't like the dress," he stated.

  
"The dress?"

"You know, the bridesmaid dress your mom chose."

"You don't like it?" Donna asked, turning wide eyes to CJ. Silence filled the air as CJ glared at Josh and then turned to meet Donna's eyes; seeing confusion in them, she briefly closed her own eyes, trying to gather strength. "CJ?" Donna prompted.

Still CJ remained silent, so Josh helped out again. "She thinks it's hideous," he said.

"What?" Donna gasped.

"Josh!" CJ chided.

"What?" he questioned innocently. "It's what you said, isn't it?"

"Well…yeah," she admitted quietly. "But, couldn't you have, you know, put it more nicely?" Josh shrugged his shoulders and gave her a rueful smile.

"CJ? You really don't like it?" Donna asked in a small voice.

CJ stood up and crossed to Donna, stopping in front of her. Looking at her seriously, she replied, "I'm sorry, Donna. I…I really tried to like it, I honestly did, but I can't wear it. There will be photos released to the press and…I'd never live it down. I'm *so* sorry. I totally understand if you don't want me to be a bridesmaid now, but –"

"CJ?" Donna interrupted. "You *really* don't like it?" she repeated.

"No."

"Well, thank God for that," Donna grinned, letting her shoulders heave as Josh laughed heartily.

"What do you mean?" CJ demanded. Looking from Donna to Josh and then back again, she questioned, "What the hell is going on?"

Instead of answering the question, Donna stepped around CJ and walked to Josh's desk. Stopping beside his chair, she held her hand out in front of him.

"Pay up."

"What?" he laughed.

"You heard me; pay up!"

"No way," he replied. "I had two days, I think you'll find I win."

"I think you'll find you don't," she told him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" CJ demanded to know.

Josh grinned widely as he slapped Donna's still outstretched hand away. "We had a bet about how long it would take you to tell us that you hate the dress," he smirked.

"You what?!!!!!"

"Yeah, we bet on how long it would be between you seeing the dress in the catalogue and you telling Donna you didn't like it. That's why I had to have Donna here for you to tell her in person, rather than have me relate it to her gently," he admitted with a grin.

"And that's exactly why you don't win, Josh," Donna interjected.

"Huh?"

"You said it would be two days, it's more than that."  
  
"No, it's not. CJ only saw the catalogue two days ago."  
  
"Actually, she didn't. Carol admitted to me this morning that it arrived when we thought it would."

"Which was when?" he asked.

"Four days ago."

"Aha!" Josh exclaimed proudly. "In that case, you don't win either, Donnatella; you had three days."

"So, who does win?" CJ asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"I believe that would be me," a voice said from the doorway.

At the sound of the President's voice, CJ and Donna turned around and Josh jumped up from his chair.

"Mr *President*?" CJ asked with shock.

"Yes, CJ, me," he smiled, walking towards Josh and holding his hand out. "I believe you owe me some money, Mr Lyman."

"Wait, I…" CJ started, then stopped and looked at the President. "Sir, would you mind if I?" She pointed to a chair and he nodded his agreement. "Thanks," she said, flopping down into the chair. "I'm trying to get to grips with this," she continued. "Are you telling me that the hideous dress was part of a prank, and that you were a part of the prank, Sir?"

"Ah, the penny has dropped," he grinned. "It was ingenious, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was," she grudgingly admitted. "Whose idea was it, Josh's or Donna's?"

"You don't think it was mine?" the President asked her with mock-hurt in his tone.

"No, I don't," she smiled. "You're devious, Sir, but you're not *that* devious."

"I should take offence at that," he told her.

"Except, you know I'm right."

"Yeah."

"So, who *was* it?" she asked again, looking directly at Josh.

"Uhh…well, uh…" he stammered.

"It was me, CJ," Donna admitted quietly, stepping closer to the President for a bit of protection.

"You?"

"Yeah, with a bit of help, of course," she replied, looking at Josh. He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.

"I *knew* you'd drag me into this."

"Hey, you were the one who persuaded my mom to get involved and send the catalogue down."

"Well, it wouldn't have worked if the catalogue had passed through your hands first," Josh explained.

"And you, Sir," CJ addressed the President again. "Why did *you* get involved?"

"As punishment," he confessed.

"Punishment?"

"Yes, for making them think I wanted a big wedding. I told Josh that it was all your idea and then, as penance, offered to help him get you back."  
  
"Well, gee thanks. That's the last time I use you as a prank partner," she grumbled. "You sold me out *way* too easily."

"I'm sorry, CJ, but I know Josh is much better at pranks; I wanted to have some fun."

"And the bet?"

"Well, being President doesn't pay all that much; I have to take the money where I can get it," he grinned. "Anyway, I think we've gotten off the subject here," he stated.

"Which was?" CJ queried.

"The fact that Josh owes me money. Come on, Josh, pay up. Don't make me bring in the Secret Service."

"More like an exterminator," Donna chipped in.

"Excuse me?" he queried.

"You know, to get rid of all the moths that will escape when Josh opens his wallet."

"Hey!" Josh objected.

"I'm sorry, Josh," Donna laughed.

"Just remember, Donna, I'm not the *only* one who owes him money," he remarked pointedly. 

Donna glared at him and then, turning to the President, said sweetly, "Sir?"

"That's alright, Donna; put the money towards the headache pills you must need from living *and* working with Josh."

"Hey!"

"Pay up, Josh," the President instructed. Josh made some mutterings but dutifully pulled out his wallet and extracted twenty dollars, handing the bill to the President. "Thank you," he grinned, pocketing the money. "Well, I'll see you all later, some of us have a Country to run."

Once the President had left the office, CJ let out a loud groan. "I can't *believe* I fell for this!"

Josh and Donna let out laughs. "Neither can we," Donna grinned. "I thought for sure you were gonna guess; I thought you had asked Carol to try and find out if it was a prank."

"I did, but you played a good game, Donna; she couldn't read you."

"That's my girl," Josh smiled proudly, reaching for Donna's hand and kissing her briefly.

"I will get you back, you know, both of you," CJ warned. Josh shrugged his shoulders and smirked. "Remember, Josh, I'm in charge of throwing the bridal shower so I can easily organize something for Donna that will make you jealous."  
  
"Like what?" he asked skeptically.

"Like a really cute stripper…or three," she smirked. Josh glared at her. "Also, I'm pretty sure I can persuade Toby and Sam to get you drunk and tie you to a lamppost naked or something at your bachelor party; it's not as if it's difficult to get you drunk."

"You *could*, but you won't," he retorted confidently. "You'd be the one who'd have to explain the photos to the press."  
  
"Ah, but it would be worth it," she replied, leaving Josh to gape as she smirked again and left the office.

"She wouldn't?" Josh asked Donna.

"She would," Donna grinned, as she also left the office.

"Oh, God!" Josh groaned to himself.

**

The End

Next up…the bachelor party and bridal shower. Just what *will* CJ arrange? g


	9. Parties 'R Us

TITLE: "Parties R Us"

Disclaimers, etc. as in Part 1

**

"Josh, you're not going to drink too much tonight, are you?"  
  
"Donna," Josh sighed, glancing at her quickly and then returning his eyes to the road, "I'll be fine." Another glance at her showed she wasn't convinced. "Look, my bachelor party is in the White House, it's not like I can get in too much trouble there, with the Secret Service around the President," he assured her.

"Well, I dunno about that. My bridal shower is in the Residence, with the Secret Service there for the First Lady, but CJ says she has many things planned to make me blush," Donna said.

"Knowing CJ, that means she's gonna give you lingerie or something, which will make *you* blush and *me* smile," he grinned. Donna rolled her eyes, causing him to laugh. "Donna, you put Toby in charge of the bachelor party, and we're holding it in the White House; seriously, what do you think is gonna happen?"

"What do I think is gonna happen when you, Toby, Sam, Charlie, Leo, Will, Danny and the President get together for a bachelor party? The mind boggles," she deadpanned. Josh smirked and Donna decided to wind him up a little. "However," she continued, "I guess I should take comfort in the fact that whatever you guys are doing, us girls will be having a lot more fun and, well, it's not like you made CJ follow the rules I set for Sam and Toby."

"What do you mean?" he questioned suspiciously, catching her mischievous look out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, I banned Toby and Sam from hiring a stripper for *you* but, you didn't ban CJ from hiring one for *me*," she grinned.

"You know, I'm not gonna rise to the bait," Josh stated.

"Bait?" she asked innocently.

"You're trying to make me crazy by thinking about you fawning over some stripper but –"

"Actually," she interrupted, "I was thinking more along the lines of *pawing* him, rather than fawning over him."

"Anyway," Josh continued, giving her a mock-glare and choosing to ignore her comment, "it's not going to work."  
  
"What's not going to work?"

"Donna," he warned good-naturedly. "I really don't care if there's a stripper there."

"You don't?" she queried skeptically.

"No, for two reasons. One, I seriously doubt CJ would dare bring a stripper into the White House Residence, –"

"No, but the First Lady would," Donna interjected.

"And two," he continued, once again ignoring her comment, "you wouldn't be interested."  
  
"I wouldn't?"

Josh could tell without even looking that her eyebrows were raised. "Why would you be interested when you can get your own, private, strip show at home?" he smirked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively as he quickly glanced at her again.

"Yeah," she laughed. "But, you see, CJ doesn't really think that watching you strip would give me much of a thrill."

"She told you that?" he asked quickly. "I mean, you two discuss these things?"

"Girls talk, Josh."

"Donna!" She dipped her head to hide the grin that appeared at Josh's squeaky-voiced exclamation. He gave a small cough and then asked more quietly, "You told her that her theory is wrong though, right?" Donna remained silent, choosing to give him an enigmatic smile instead. "Donna!"

"What do you care, Josh? I mean, you're so sure I won't be interested in a stripper, you must be pretty confident of what I think of your body."

"You're just messing with me now, aren't you?"

"Yep," she confirmed with a grin.

"And there's not going to be a stripper at your bridal shower, is there?"

"I don't know, Josh," she replied honestly. "CJ wouldn't tell me what she has planned, but she has been dropping hints about buying a bulk order of baby oil."

"Okay, you're still trying to taunt me, so I'm going to use one of your favorite phrases," Josh stated.

"What's that?"  
  
"I'm impervious."  
  
Donna laughed and continued laughing for the remaining few minutes of their journey. Josh drew into his assigned space in the parking lot, switched off the engine and turned to look at her.

"It's not that funny, you know."

"I know, I'm just thinking about what CJ *really* has planned since I, like you, don't think she'll have hired a stripper; I know she'll have something organized though, I'm just coming up with ideas."

"Care to share those ideas?"

"No," she replied, patting his right thigh. "I don't think you could handle them," she grinned.

*

"Poker? We're playing poker? That's my bachelor party activity, playing poker?" Josh asked his fellow occupants in Leo's office late in the evening as they assembled for the bachelor party.

"You sound disappointed, Josh," the President said.

"Uh, no, I'm not," he stated quickly. "I'm just…surprised, that's all."

"What did you think we were going to do?" Sam asked.

"I dunno, I just…I wasn't expecting a poker night; we can do that anytime."

"You *are* disappointed," Sam said, sounding a little hurt. "I told you my idea was better," he informed Toby.

"Your idea?" Josh queried.

"Yeah, the poker night was *Toby's* idea; I had something else planned but he overruled me."

"Uh, Sam, you know Toby can't really overrule you now, right? You don't work for him anymore," Leo pointed out.

"If we'd gone with his idea, Donna would have got mad and blamed me, since she put *me* in charge of tonight," Toby explained.

"Hey, we're *co-planners*," Sam stated huffily.

"Okay, we're co-planners," Toby agreed, "but I have seniority."

The assembled gathering chuckled at Toby's statement and Sam's face. Josh decided to take the bait.

"What did *you* want to do, Sam?"

"You don't want to know," Toby said.

"I do," Josh insisted. "Sam?"

"Well," he replied, a look of excitement on his face, "I wanted to go to the 'Hawk and Dove' and challenge any Republicans there to a 'tequila shots' contest."

The room fell silent for a few moments, finally broken by the President.

"Bless Donna and her rules," he smiled, causing everyone to chuckle, except Sam, who narrowed his eyes at the mocking he was receiving.

*

"Ah, the happy bride-to-be," Abbey Bartlet said, raising her wine glass as Donna entered the room.

"Good evening, Mrs Bartlet," Donna greeted.

"Donna, enough of that; tonight I am Abbey, your friend, not the First Lady." She waited for Donna to smile an agreement and then continued, "CJ, you're the organizer of this shindig; make sure everyone has a drink and bring the bottles over, we're going to get drunk tonight."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," CJ readily agreed.

CJ walked around the room filling the glasses of Carol, Margaret, Bonnie, Ginger, Andi and Donna. She finally filled a glass for herself and took a seat on the couch between Donna and Margaret, placing two new wine bottles on the table. Abbey, Ginger, Andi and Bonnie were seated on the couch opposite, with Carol beside Margaret.

"To Donna," Abbey toasted. "May she have enough strength to put up with Josh for the rest of her life."

"To Donna," everyone said aloud, while Donna chuckled and sipped her wine.

"What was Josh's reaction this morning?" Abbey asked CJ. "I wish I'd been able to be there."  
  
"Oh, it was priceless," CJ grinned. "He vowed to get revenge on his mom for helping me."

"Yeah, after he finally believed that I had nothing to do with it," Donna grumbled good-naturedly.

"He thought you were to blame?" Ginger queried.

"Yeah, he figured that CJ must have got the photos from me to put in the paper."

Abbey laughed quietly and then stood up. She crossed the room and retrieved a copy of the Washington Post from an end table.

"I have to read this again," she told them all with a smile as she sat back down. Laying the paper out on the coffee table, she leaned forward and read aloud, "Many years ago, Joshua Lyman became a man as he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. However, tonight he becomes a man in another sense, as he attends a bachelor party thrown is his honor, prior to his marriage to Donnatella Moss. Josh, we never thought you would be the groom-to-be at a bachelor party, but we're delighted that you are. Soon, we'll have another photo to add to the collection you see here; one of you on your wedding day." Abbey stopped reading and looked at CJ. "Where did you get these photos if Donna didn't have anything to do with this?"

"I called Josh's mom, told her what I was planning and asked what she could provide. She gave me two baby photos to choose from and three from his Bar Mitzvah. Unfortunately, she didn't have any of baby Josh in the bath, however, she thinks one of her relatives might have one, so she's trying to track that down for the wedding," CJ explained with a grin.

"Are you two ever going to stop playing pranks on one another?" Carol laughed.

"No!" CJ and Donna stated in unison.

"Did Josh know it was you immediately, or did he think one of the guys had done it?" Andi asked.

"Judging by the fact that he yelled for CJ as soon as he saw the paper in his office this morning, I think it's safe to assume that he knew it was her," Donna replied.

*

"You know, Toby, it's really not fair to keep on winning like that," Sam grumbled. "You could let the rest of us have a chance."

"It's not my fault if you can't play poker," Toby replied. "Anyway, this money is going towards the education of my children and you wouldn't want them to be deprived of it, would you?"

"There's really no good way for me to answer that, is there?" Sam asked with a depressed sigh.

*

"So, come on, Donna, spill it; where's the honeymoon going to be?" CJ demanded as they all started their third glasses of wine.

"I honestly don't know. I keep telling you that Josh is arranging everything, why won't anyone believe me?"

"Because, you organize everything for Josh, so I can't believe you'd let him organize something as important as your honeymoon," CJ responded immediately, causing the others to chuckle. "What made you agree?"

"He pleaded." There were dubious looks all around and she expanded, "He pleaded a *lot*… and he kinda caught me off-guard."

"Off-guard?" Abbey queried.

"I really don't think you want to know," Donna grinned.

"Oh, but we do. What sort of bridal shower would it be if we didn't dish the dirt on the groom-to-be?" laughed CJ.

"What do you want to know?"

"You *know* what I want to know," CJ stated. "Now, come on, on a rating of one to ten?"

"CJ!" Donna exclaimed, looking from her friend to the First Lady.

"Oh, don't mind me, Donna," Abbey said, "I want to hear this as well; it gives me more ammunition against Josh, it'll be easier to make him blush."

*

"So, Josh, where's the honeymoon going to be?" the President asked as Charlie cleared the empty beer bottles from the table and Sam replenished everyone's drinks.

Josh laughed and looked from the President to Leo and then back again. "Leo put you up to this, right?" he accused.

"Put me up to what?"

"Asking me about the honeymoon. He already struck out, so now he's bringing in the big guns."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Josh," the President insisted.

"Sure. Anyway, I'm not going to tell you anything," Josh stated. "The honeymoon is going to be a surprise for Donna."

"You think we'd tell her?"

"No, Sam, I don't think you'd *tell* her exactly, but I do think you'd let her know that you knew…or you'd let it slip somehow. Anyway, I don't *want* to tell anyone, it's more fun this way."

"She is going to like it though, right?" Danny questioned.

"Well, there will be a hotel room and me so, what do you think?" Josh grinned in response.

"We still have three weeks until your actual wedding, Josh, that's plenty of time for us to find out where you're going. I know we're holding the bachelor party now because we're going to be busy between now and then, but I can deploy people to do a little research for me," the President smiled.

Josh shrugged his shoulders and looked completely unconcerned. "I don't really care, Sir; if you *do* find out, I can either change it, or you'll congratulate me on how good a choice it is and will be happy to keep quiet about it."

"You're awfully confident there, Josh," the President pressed.

"Donna agreed to marry me, that gives me all the confidence in the World," Josh replied seriously; his friends raised their eyebrows in silent praise for his thoughtful words.

*

"You've *got* to be kidding me," CJ declared, waving her wine glass around, prompting Margaret to remove it from her grasp and place it on the coffee table before the wine spilled everywhere.

"I kid you not, CJ," Donna replied, turning to look at her friend and smiling widely.

"*Josh* can do that? Really?" Donna nodded an affirmative response. "Wow, who'd have thought?"

"I know, I'd never have believed it either, but I ain't complaining," Donna grinned; the wine she had consumed during the evening had removed the vestiges of her embarrassment concerning discussing her love life in front of the First Lady, and she was now talking freely.

"Where did Josh learn?" Abbey inquired. "I mean, does he have a book or something?"  
  
"No, he says it's all natural skill."  
  
"Really? Hmm, I wonder if I can commission him to write Jed a report on that," Abbey laughed.

"You know I'm gonna be scared every time I see the President reading a report Josh has written now, don't you?"

"You're the Press Secretary, CJ, you can handle these things."

"Oh, God," CJ groaned.

*

"So, how much did everyone win or lose?" the President asked as the poker game ended. "Josh, you were well and truly beaten, what was the damage?"

"Oh, I only lost $40, Sir," Josh grinned.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I knew you guys wouldn't go easy on me, even though you should since I'm guest of honor tonight," he said pointedly with a smile, "so, I folded early in every hand."

Everyone else tallied up their winnings and losses and it soon emerged that Toby and Leo were the big winners. Toby still insisted that the $300 he won would go towards the education of his children and Sam complained that since it was mostly his money, it meant that he was educating Toby's children.

"You know, this isn't much of a bachelor party, Toby," the President stated.

"Sir?"

"Well, it's not even midnight yet, and already we're packing up; maybe we should have gone with Sam's idea after all?"

"I don't really think *you* could have done that, Sir, and anyway, we do have work tomorrow," Toby pointed out in his own defense.

"Yes, and so do the women," the President replied.

"Sir?"

"I know Abbey and CJ have a whole night of festivities planned for Donna, yet we're now finished; I think we should go crash the bridal shower."

"You're not serious?" Toby queried, earning himself a glare.

"Yes, Toby, I'm perfectly serious. Come on," the President said, standing up and motioning for everyone to follow. "That's an order," he continued when everyone remained seated, "and shouldn't you all be standing since I am standing?"

Everyone stood and looked towards Leo; he shrugged his shoulders and gave them a helpless look.

"Are we allowed to crash a bridal shower?" Sam mused. "I mean, we're guys, we're not supposed to go to a bridal shower."

"Unless we're strippers," Danny grinned.

"You think they're going to tell me to leave?" the President questioned with raised eyebrows.

"Well, no, but…"

"You may be right, Sam," the President allowed. "But, I want to go so, I guess Josh gets to make the final decision."

"Me?" Josh gulped.

"Yes, you. Donna may well think we're going because you don't trust her, meaning you'll get in trouble, so I suppose you should make the call."

Josh looked at the President for a moment before answering, "I wanna go."

"You're more afraid of the President than Donna?" Sam asked with surprise.

"No," Josh glared, then noticed the look he was receiving from the President and added, "well…you know, there's no way for me to answer that. What I meant was, Donna was planning on staying with CJ tonight but, if we go crash the party, I'll be able to persuade her to come home; she won't be mad after that," he smirked.

"Well, you heard the man, let's go." The President started walking out of the room, dutifully, if grudgingly, followed by Charlie, Toby, Will, Danny, Sam and Josh.

"Josh?" Leo called, stopping Josh in his tracks.

"Yeah?" Josh turned around and Leo beckoned him to approach the desk; the others left the office.

"Here, this is for you," Leo said, handing Josh an envelope.

"Leo?" Confusion was etched on Josh's face as he stared at the envelope.

"It's my poker winnings from tonight," Leo explained.

Josh opened the envelope and removed the contents. "Leo, there's over $200 here."

"I know."

"I don't understand," Josh said, stuffing the money back into the envelope.

"I want you to use it to buy a really nice dinner for yourself and Donna when you're on honeymoon. I know you don't need the money, but…"

"Thanks, Leo," Josh said quietly, gulping back his emotions.

"Now, we have a party to crash," Leo stated, moving out from behind his desk. "Oh and, Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"That money is for you to take Donna *out* for dinner, not for paying for room service. You're expected to leave your hotel room at least once on honeymoon."

Josh squirmed with embarrassment for a second and then grinned. "Well, you know, I'm all for that, but Donna? Once she gets going –"

"Josh, too much information!"

*

"Come in," Abbey called as she heard a knock. An Agent stuck his head around the door.

"Ma'am, you were right, they're on their way."  
  
"I knew it!" Abbey declared, pointing a finger in the air.

"Huh?" everyone else queried.

"The boys, they're on their way up here," Abbey clarified. "Jed swore he would leave us alone tonight, but I knew he wouldn't stick to it; I asked the Agents to give me a heads-up if they started moving in this direction."

"They're planning to crash the bridal shower?" Andi asked. "Toby can't be with them."

"I'll bet this is Jed's doing and he's ordered them all to come. I told him we had grand plans for tonight. Well, let's have a little fun, shall we?"

*

"What the hell?" Jed rattled the handle on the door to the room where the bridal shower was being held. "It's locked," he announced, turning to his companions and giving them expectant looks.

"Well, that's that then, let's go," Toby said, walking away.

"Toby, get back here."

"Sir, the door is locked, maybe the party ended already?" Toby suggested hopefully.

"What was that?" Sam asked, sticking his ear against the door. "That sounded like…squealing?"

"What is Abbey up to?" Jed pondered.

"Well, usually when women attend a bridal shower and start screaming, it's because there are male strippers around," Danny helpfully provided; he was rewarded with glares from the President and Toby. "Wait, Josh, you're not glaring; aren't you bothered that Donna might be watching a strip show in there?"

"Nope, I'm not bothered," Josh informed them all, prompting skeptical looks. "Why would Donna be interested in some stripper when she has me at home?" he grinned.

Everyone contemplated Josh's statement, until a female voice was heard shouting, "Get 'em off."

"That was Abbey!" Jed gasped. "Abbey, open the door," he demanded, banging his fist against the door.

"Don't think you can compete against the strippers, huh, Sir?" Josh smirked; the President scowled at him.

"Abbey, open the damn door, we want to come in."

"What's your problem, Jethro?" Abbey queried as she unlocked and opened the door.

Jed stormed into the room, followed by the rest of the men; they found it occupied only by Andi, Carol, Margaret, Bonnie, Ginger and Abbey.

"Where's CJ?" Sam wondered.

"More to the point, where's *Donna*?" Josh inquired.

"Oh, they went into the other room, for a…a private discussion," Abbey told them, indicating a closed door off the room they were in.

Josh looked suspicious, but he said nothing.

"So, did you have a good time tonight, boys?" Abbey asked, pulling Jed down onto a couch with her.

"Leo and Toby cleaned us out," Sam supplied.

"Aww, how did you do, Josh?" Andi laughed.

"Huh?" Josh ripped his gaze from the closed door, which Donna was behind, and turned his attention to Andi. "Oh, I'm down about $40."

*

Ten minutes had passed since the arrival of the gatecrashers, and Josh had partaken of two martinis, mixed for him by the President himself.

"What on earth are they discussing in there?" Jed asked, nodding his head towards the door. "Are they plotting an overthrow of the government?" He turned his head and slyly winked at Abbey.

"Well, let's just say they're…enjoying themselves. You know, Donna only has another three weeks of being single, she's entitled to make the most of it," Abbey grinned.

"What does that mean?" Josh demanded. "It is just Donna and CJ in there, isn't it?"

"Umm…" Abbey trailed off, refusing to meet Josh's eyes and unable to answer his question. 

Josh glanced around the room and found none of the women would look at him. The alcohol was beginning to have its usual effect on him and his mind started whirring.

"Who's in there with them?" he demanded more forcefully.

"Josh, I…"

"Abbey, who *is* it?" he repeated, his voice rising a little.

"Josh," Leo warned. Josh nodded to show he knew he was getting out of line and he let out a deep breath. When no further information was forthcoming, he crossed to the closed door.

"Donna, are you in there?" he called.

"Josh, go away, we're busy," CJ replied.

"CJ, I want to talk to Donna," he stated, turning the door handle and finding it locked. "CJ!"

"What do you want, Josh?" CJ glared as she opened the door and came face-to-face with him.

"Umm, can I talk to Donna?" he asked meekly.

CJ stepped out of the room and pushed Josh towards a chair.

"CJ!" Josh protested. "What the hell are you doing? Where's Donna?"

"I'm right here, Josh," Donna said as she left the side room and walked towards him.

"What's that?" he inquired, pointing to Donna's right hand.

"It's a can of whipped cream."

"What's it for?" he asked quietly, slightly fearful of the answer.

"CJ gave it to me as a gift," she explained.

"It's for Donna to use on someone, Josh," CJ elaborated.

"I can't believe you hired strippers, CJ!" Josh exclaimed. "In the White House!" He jumped up from the chair and dashed into the other room, emerging a few seconds later with a confused look. "What's going on? There's no-one in there. Who's the can of whipped cream for?"

"Well, I'm putting it in my bag for tonight so, what do you think?" Donna said through barely controlled laughter.

Josh looked suitably sheepish for a moment and then recovered his composure. Turning to the President, he asked, "How do you get to the 'Lincoln Bedroom' from here?"

"Donna, get a cab and take that man of yours home," Abbey instructed.

"Yes, ma'am," Donna grinned.

**  
  
The End

Next part…the wedding. I know where they are going on honeymoon but, do you? :-)


	10. Sweet As Pecan Pie

TITLE: "Sweet As Pecan Pie"

RATING: PG-13 (There are a few minor 'adult' references, but I don't think it's enough for an 'R') 

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own 'em.

THANKS: Okay, I'm sure she reckons I can never be this nice so, this is dedicated to Sharon; thanks for being my IM buddy over the last few difficult weeks. (I even used a semi-colon there, just for you g). Further thanks to everyone who's sent me feedback on this series, it is much appreciated.

FEEDBACK: Sure, send it my way

**

"Josh, I hear there's been a change of plan for the trip?" Josh gave Leo a blank look. "We're all now going up two days before the wedding, i.e. tomorrow, rather than just the day before. What prompted the change?"

"Well, Donna, Abbey and CJ are all going up tomorrow, which is *four* days before the wedding, so it was thought that waiting until two days before might be too much of a time apart."

"Thought by whom? You and Donna are going to have two solid weeks together on your honeymoon, yet you can't stand to be apart for four days?"

"Actually, it wasn't my idea," Josh defended. "The President can't stand to be away from the First Lady for more than four days, so he's going early; if we want to fly on Air Force One, we have to go at the same time."

"Well, you know, that's not the reason he was giving me when he told me about the change in plans last night, Josh," stated Leo with a raised brow. "And, after all, the President and First Lady are apart a great deal of the time anyway, due to work; I think he's learned to cope."

"Yes, but if he can change things so they can be together, he might as well take advantage," Josh grinned.

"Funny, he told me that you practically begged him to change the plan so that you could see Donna again before the wedding."

"Who are you gonna believe though, Leo?"

"You really want me to answer that?" Leo quizzed with a smile.

"Uh, no."

*

"Where's Donna?" asked an impatient Josh as he walked into the living room in the Bartlet family's Manchester home.

"Why, it's good to see you too, Josh," the First Lady quipped.

"Sorry," Josh grinned sheepishly. "How are you, ma'am?"

"I'm fine, Josh."  
  
"That's good to hear. Where's Donna?"

"Where's my husband?"

"Ma'am?"

"You know, Josh, my husband…your boss…leader of the Free World; any of this ringing a bell?"

"He's talking with the Agents, something about making sure Charlie and Zoey remain in opposite ends of the house during the night," he grinned.

Abbey rolled her eyes. "Great, just what I need; having to intervene in yet another argument between father and daughter about a boy."

Josh shrugged his shoulders helplessly, then asked, "So, uh, where's Donna?" He let out an exasperated sigh as Abbey's response was cut off by the arrival of her husband.

"Ah, Abbey, where do we keep the padlocks?"

"Causing trouble already, Jed?" an amused Abbey replied. "Come here and give me a proper greeting," she demanded.

Josh coughed to remind them of his presence and then quietly left the room when it was obvious they were going to ignore him.

*

"Uh, Leo, I wouldn't go in there right now," Josh said as Leo made for the door to the living room. "The President and his wife are…becoming re-acquainted." The look on Josh's face was one of slight shock at what he had witnessed and Leo chuckled.

"What's wrong, Josh? Do you think you and Donna are the only ones with sex lives?"

"Leo!"

"Josh, why did you bring your bag here? Why didn't you just get Toby, Sam and the others to take it the hotel with them?" Leo asked, pointing to the bag Josh had dropped on the floor by the main entrance.

"Well, I…I…" he stammered. "Leo, can't you talk to him?"

"No, Josh, you know what the President said; you and Donna cannot sleep together in this house until you're married."

"But, Leo!" Josh whined.

"I'm sorry, Josh; this is his house, he sets the rules."

"Can't I even stay in the house tonight though? I mean, there are spare rooms."

"You think the President is dumb enough to fall for that? You did hear his instructions to the Agents about Zoey and Charlie; you don't think he'll be just as protective of Donna?"

"Josh?" the President called, poking his head around the living room door. "It's safe to come back in now," he grinned.

"Great, just great," Josh muttered as he trudged into the room, followed by an amused Leo.

*

"So, uh, ma'am, you were saying earlier," Josh started. "About where Donna is?" he prompted as Abbey looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"Oh, right, she's not here."

"What? Where is she?"

"She went out with her sister and CJ."

"What? But…but she knew I was coming," he blustered. "Why did she go out?"

"Josh, it's two days before her wedding, she has things to do," Abbey said calmly.

"I thought everything was organized? She told me it was," Josh muttered in confusion.

"She just wanted to sort a few things out before her parents and your mom arrive tomorrow. She wants to be able to spend time with them all, without having to worry about any last minute things."

Josh didn't look convinced, or happy, but he let the subject drop. After a moment's silence, he quietly said, "Sir, do you mind if I go upstairs and crash for a while? I'm pretty beat."

The President peered at him closely. "I'll get a driver to take you to your hotel."

"No!" Josh exclaimed then, more quietly, said, "No, if you don't mind, Sir, I'd rather stay here for a while, until Donna comes back."

"Okay, but you can go and *crash* in Leo's room."

"Sir?"

"Josh, you heard me, take it or leave it; I'm not taking any chances."

"You don't trust me?" Josh tried to sound wounded; the President gave him a pointed look. "I'll just be going to Leo's room then," Josh stated, standing up and moving towards the door. He paused and looked back at them. "You'll let me know when Donna gets back?"

"We will, Josh," Abbey confirmed.

*

"They're still not back?" Josh quizzed as he entered the living room about an hour later, looking rather rumpled; he had actually gone to sleep on top of the covers on Leo's bed, despite his attempts to stay awake.

"No, CJ called though," Abbey explained. "They've decided to stay in town for dinner."

"But, Donna knows I'm here, right?"

"I told CJ you had arrived and she passed it on, yes."

"And she still wants to stay in town?"

"Yes."

"Does she want me to join them?"  
  
"There was no mention either way."

"Oh." Josh looked defeated for a moment. "Well, if there was no mention either way, I think I'll head into town and catch up with them there. If that's alright?"

"That's fine, Josh," the President agreed, finally looking up from his newspaper. "One less mouth to feed."

*

"Donna, what are you doing back here?" Leo asked in surprise as Donna entered the living room to say hello to them all.

"I'm pretty tired, all the wedding stuff is catching up with me; my sister and CJ are still in town, I caught a cab back," Donna explained as she gratefully dropped into an armchair.

"Oh, so you didn't see Josh then?" Abbey queried.

"Josh?"  
  
"Yes, he went into town to meet up with you."

"No, I didn't see him." Donna looked downcast.

"I guess your cars must have passed on the road or something, he only left about twenty minutes ago."

"Why didn't he call to say he was coming?"  
  
"I think he wanted to surprise you," Leo commented softly.

"I should call him."  
  
"Donna, you said you were tired; why don't you go upstairs and get some rest?" Abbey suggested. "I'm sure Josh will turn back when he finds you're not there." 

Donna looked dubious, but she received warm and encouraging looks from both Abbey and Leo. "Okay, you'll let me know if…"

"I'm sure he'll announce his arrival," Abbey stated wryly.

*

"Hi all, we're back," CJ announced as she and Donna's sister returned from their trip into town.

"Hi, CJ, we're in here," Abbey called out. The two women entered the living room and collapsed onto a couch opposite Abbey and Jed; they were closely followed by Toby, Sam and Will.

"Phew, remind me never to volunteer to help plan a wedding again," CJ said, letting out a deep breath.

"Oh, come on, CJ, you're loving it," Abbey smiled.

"Where's Josh?" Jed asked, noticing that his Deputy Chief of Staff hadn't entered the room. "If he's snuck upstairs to see Donna, there will be hell to pay."

"Josh? What do you mean?" CJ queried.

"Josh, he met up with you in town, didn't he? I have to say, I expected him to come straight back when he found Donna had come back here, but I guess his stomach got the better of him."

"Sir, we haven't seen Josh; he didn't meet up with us," Sam said.

"He didn't?" Jed clarified. "So, where has he been all this time then?" No-one answered his question and a thought suddenly occurred to him. He stood up and walked into the hallway. "Leo?" he shouted.

"Sir?" Leo appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Is Josh up there?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is Josh up there?"

"Well, he's not with me," Leo smirked.

"Can you check Donna's room please?"

"Sir, I can't exactly --"

"Oh, for goodness sake, I'll do it myself," Jed grumbled, climbing the stairs and brushing past Leo.

"Jed, you will do no such thing," Abbey stated firmly, following him upstairs.

"Too late," Leo said quietly, watching Jed knock on Donna's door.

"Donna?" Jed called through the closed door. Silence. "Donna, is Josh with you?" More silence. Jed put his hand on the door handle and Abbey pulled him away.

"Jed, she could be sleeping," she admonished. "Although, how she can sleep with you bellowing outside her door…"

"I swear, if Josh is in there, he's not going to enjoy his wedding night very much," Jed vowed.

"Out of the way." Abbey pushed her husband aside and stood in front of the closed door. "Donna, are you decent?" she asked, knocking on the door again. When there was still silence, she opened the door and entered the room.

*

"God, I've missed you."  
  
"Josh, it's only been two days," Donna laughed.

"And two *nights*," he pointed out. "I think you can tell how much I missed you."

"I can, but I think you should show me," Donna purred seductively. Josh didn't need to be told twice and he pushed Donna back against the hay bale. "Josh, can we at least, you know, lie down?"

"Sorry," he grinned, slowly lowering Donna to the ground on top of some of the spread hay.

"Josh?" Donna said a few moments later, distracting Josh from his ministrations on her earlobe.

"Yeah?" he practically growled.

"Is this place bugged?"

Josh pulled back and looked at her quizzically. "Huh?"

  
"You know, bugged…wired? We're in one of the barns on the farm estate of the President of the United States, won't it be under some kind of surveillance?"  
  
"Donna, I haven't seen you for two days, you really think I care if someone's watching?"

"Josh!"

"Donna, I'm going to shut you up by kissing you now, okay?"

"Okay," she smiled, pulling him towards her again.

*

"Josh, what are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Josh, you can't stop now."

"I'm not, but…"

"*But* what?"

"There's…okay, don't freak out, but there's a snake over there."

"So?"

"So, it's watching us."

"So what? You were the one who said you didn't care if someone was watching."

"Yeah, but that was some*one*, not some*thing*."

Donna pushed Josh away from her and sat up. "Where is it?"

"Over there." He pointed in the direction of the snake and Donna looked.

"That?" she queried, pointing at a small snake on the ground. "That's what's bothering you? Josh, it's tiny. Ignore it, it'll go away," she stated, turning his face to meet her eyes again.

"Okay," Josh agreed, returning to his previous activity. "Wait, it's getting closer."

"Josh!" Donna sighed in exasperation. "Focus on me, and what we're doing."

"I can't, it's…Donna, it's getting *really* close."

"Okay, that's it, get off of me," she said forcefully.  
  
"What?" Josh looked at her. "I'm sorry, I'll concentrate."

"No, I'm not in the mood anymore."

"Donna, I promise, I'll ignore it," he vowed.

"Okay, last chance."

*

"Gimme my shirt."

"Josh, I can't believe you're scared of a little snake. So much for you being *da man*."

"Donna, it's not a *little* snake, look at it, it's huge…and it's looking straight at me."

"It is not," she laughed mockingly.

"It is."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm getting out of here, before that snake attacks me."

"This is ridiculous," Donna said, scrambling to her feet and buttoning her shirt again.

"It's not, I'm just protecting you; it's a husband's duty."

"You're not my husband."

"Not yet."

"And you might never be if you ditch me because of some *snake*."

Josh glanced back at Donna, dragging his eyes away from the snake. He gave her an apologetic look and then held out his hand for her to take. He led her towards the barn door, casting wary glances back at the snake every few moments.

*

"What the hell?" Josh collided with something solid as he left the barn. "Toby? What are you doing here?" Toby was silent but smirked at him. Josh looked around and was shocked to find Will, Sam, Leo, Abbey, CJ and the President looking back at him. "What's going on?" he demanded to know.

"We could ask you the same question, Josh," the President said.

"Only, I think we already *know* what's going on, or at least what *was* going on in there," Sam grinned, pointing towards the barn.

"I told you the place was bugged," Donna stated as she punched Josh's shoulder.

"What?"

"How else would they have known we were here?"

"Donna, --"

"Uh, guys, before you get into a domestic about this when we're all, you know, standing here, I should point out that we knew you were here because an Agent told us; the barn is on his detail and as soon as we asked if you'd been seen, he told us where you were," Sam informed them.

"Yeah, apparently he didn't think to tell us as soon as he saw you go in, or even stop you from entering the barn in the first place," the President grumbled.

"Jed, stop it; you know the Agents only need to make sure the area is secure and, since Josh and Donna are both staff, they don't count as threats," Abbey pointed out.

"What's that?" Josh asked, pointing at something in Will's hands.

"Uh, nothing," Will replied as he hid the offending object behind his back.

"Will," he warned.

"I thought you would recognize it, Josh; after all, you've seen it before," CJ commented. Josh looked confused and Will held the object out to him.

"It's a remote control device," Josh observed. He was silent for a moment and Donna looked at him curiously. Suddenly, Josh whirled around and looked back inside the barn. "You're kidding me!" he exclaimed.

Everyone, except Josh and Donna, started laughing heartily. Donna was confused and looked to him for explanation.

"Josh?" she prompted.

"The snake, Donna," he said, "it's a fake. Remember the one Toby and Will used on CJ at the podium, the remote control one?"

Donna looked shocked for a moment and then grinned. "Nice one, guys, he was terrified."  
  
"I was not!" Josh stated indignantly.

"Oh, so you weren't terrified, yet you interrupted…what we were doing anyway?" she queried.

"Like I said, I was protecting *you*," he defended unconvincingly.

"Sure, Josh," Donna said mock-patronizingly.

"What I'd like to know is, what did you think you were doing in there?" Leo asked pointedly.

"Well, Leo, I thought you were more worldly than that," Josh grinned.

"Josh, don't get smart with me; you know very well what I'm talking about." Josh remained silent. "Josh, the President specifically told you that you and Donna couldn't…get intimate in his house before you were married."

Leo was awaiting an explanation and Josh looked at the President, noticing that his expression was more curious that angry.

"I know, and we weren't."

"Only because the snake stopped you before --," CJ grinned.

"Actually, we were already…you know what, I'm not gonna finish that," Josh smirked.

"Sounds familiar," Donna muttered, earning a mock-glare from Josh.

"Josh?" Leo prompted, still awaiting explanation.

"We weren't in his *house*, Leo."

"Josh."

"Hey, look, I'm a lawyer--"

"That's debatable," Sam interjected.

Josh glared at him and continued. "I'm a lawyer, and I know how to work around verbal contracts when I need to." He turned to the President. "I'm sorry, Sir; if you feel as though Donna and I have been disrespectful to you and your beliefs, then I am truly sorry. All I can say is that I missed her more than I imagined was possible and this wedding can't happen nearly quickly enough for me."

"That's alright, Josh, I understand," the President said softly. "I can't expect everyone to agree with my beliefs, and if I had really wanted to keep you and Donna apart while you were here, I'd have issued orders to the Secret Service to say that." Josh looked surprised and the President continued, "However, those orders *are* in place from now on, understand?"

"Yes, Sir," Josh and Donna said in unison.

*

"Josh, what's wrong?" Donna asked as Josh sat in a swing-seat on the back porch, scowling. It was getting late and everyone else was inside the house, giving Josh and Donna a few minutes to say goodbye; they wouldn't see each other again until the wedding ceremony.

"Nothing."

"Josh," she sighed, "is this because I refused to come back to your hotel tonight?"

"I don't see what the problem is, Donna," he told her. "I know we're not supposed to see each other for a day before the wedding, but a day is 24 hours; the ceremony isn't until noon on Monday, so we have until 11:59 tomorrow morning before we need to be apart."

"Josh, you're taking this being a lawyer thing too far," Donna grinned. "You can't nit-pick every detail just to get what you want."  
  
"Why not?" he smirked.

"Because, it doesn't work that way. Now, you and I aren't going to see each other for about…" she paused to check her watch, "35 hours; do you really want to say goodbye by arguing the point with me?"

"No," he muttered, "but I'm not allowed to say goodbye in the way I *really* want to, am I? Yet another reason for you to come back to the hotel with me."

"Josh, let's go for a walk." She stood up and pulled him with her, leading him onto the lawn.

They started to walk in the direction of the cluster of trees, their arms wrapped around each other.

"How am I going to get through tomorrow without seeing you?" Josh asked seriously. "The last two days were hell."

"I'm sure you'll survive."

"Wait, it is just *seeing* you that's not allowed, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I am still allowed to *talk* to you, right? I can still call you?"

Donna smiled. "You can try, but CJ's took my cellphone away after we used it to plan this afternoon's barn escapade, and she says I'm not getting back until the wedding reception."

"You have a phone in your room though," Josh pointed out.

"Which is connected into the main house line; I somehow think there might be orders not to put you through," she smiled.

"Foiled at every turn, huh?"

"Yep, so, we'd better make the most of this," Donna said, pulling Josh behind a tree and kissing him soundly.

"I'm all for that," he agreed when they paused for breath.

"You know, this is the last time I'm going to kiss someone when I'm single," Donna observed.

"It better be," Josh growled good-naturedly. "Now, come here Miss Moss."

*

"Josh, you're beeping."

"What?"

"Your pager is going off," Donna clarified, pulling back from him and grabbing the pager from his waist. "Time's up, buddy. Get back to the house," she read aloud. "I guess that's from Sam," she smiled. "CJ wouldn't have been as nice about it."

"Do we *have* to go?" he whined.

"Yes," Donna laughed. "Come on, you can go back to your hotel and go to sleep; when you wake up in the morning, it will be less time until the wedding."

"Somehow, I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep."

"Let's go." Donna tugged at his arm and felt his hand creep into hers; they walked hand-in-hand back to the house.

*

"So, tomorrow's the big day, do you still want to go through with it?" Sam asked as he entered Josh's room to take him some breakfast; Josh hadn't emerged downstairs when breakfast had been served.

"Of course I do, I just wish it was today."

"Well, if it was, you wouldn't be doing what we are going to do tonight."

"What's that?" Josh asked suspiciously.

"Get drunk."

"Sam, I will *not* be getting drunk tonight, Donna would kill me, and besides, I want to be able to enjoy tomorrow, not witness it through a drunken haze."

"Ah, worried that you won't be able to perform your husbandly duties tomorrow if you're hungover?" Sam grinned.

"Oh, believe me, Sam, I can *always* perform."

"Except when there's a snake around," Sam smirked.

"Shut up!"

*

"Leo, what are you doing here?" Josh asked as Leo entered his room. "I thought you were staying at the house?"

"I am, I just came to see how you're doing."

"I'm fine, just getting ready to go and meet my mom."

"I talked to her yesterday," Leo commented. "She's really looking forward to tomorrow."

"I know, she loves Donna."

"We all do, Josh."

"I know."

"Sam said something about you all going out tonight, you're not planning to take your mom on a bar crawl, are you?"

"No," Josh laughed. "I won't be going on a bar crawl, but I am gonna meet up with the guys tonight. The First Lady has invited my mom up to the house tonight for dinner; Donna's parents will be there as well, along with the assistants and Andi. You're more than welcome to join us tonight, Leo."  
  
"Thanks for the offer, Josh, but I think I'll pass." Leo looked at him seriously. "You're ready for all this?"  
  
"Yeah, I am," Josh replied honestly.

"Josh, I know I'm not your father but, I wanted you to know, if you ever need anything, now or in the future, even once we're out of office, I'll always be here for you."

"Thanks, Leo. I…I wanted to ask you a favor." Leo waited for him to continue. "Would you…would you escort my mom at the ceremony tomorrow? It would mean a great deal to me, and I know it's what my father would have wanted."  
  
"I'd be honored, Josh."

*

"CJ Cregg."  
  
"CJ, it's Sam."

"Sam, what can I do for you?"

"I need your help."

"You always need my help…wait, what have you done this time?" she asked suspiciously.

"*I* haven't done anything," he said huffily. "However, Josh kinda has a problem. Donna's not in your earshot, is she?"

"No, she's not. What kind of problem? Sam, it's his wedding day; I swear, if you've done anything to him --"

"CJ, I didn't do anything, he just…okay, well, someone must have spiked his drink last night and then, once he got the taste for it, he kept drinking. I couldn't stop him, it was his choice."

"Sam," she warned.

"Really, CJ, he's a grown man, what was I supposed to do?"

"I knew I shouldn't have let you boys be on your own last night, I should have gone with you, *I'd* have stopped him."

"Whatever. Look, CJ, the reason I called is that I need your help."

"You said that already, Sam, and what I'm saying is that you should have called me *last night*, when I could have prevented this mess."

"I know, but we're a little late for that. The important thing now is to *control* the mess, don't you think?"

"What do you need?"

"Okay, well, apparently Donna has some homeopathic pills or something that help Josh when he's hungover."

"She's found a hangover remedy? Why didn't I know about this before?" CJ pondered.

"CJ, not the point."

"Huh? Oh right, yeah, what can I do?"

"Well, we need you to get the pills from Donna, but she can't know that you're taking them; Josh doesn't want her to find out that he's in this state because she'll be disappointed in him."

"She has every right to be disappointed!"

"CJ, will you help or not?"

"Alright, but how am I supposed to get them if I can't tell Donna? Does Josh know where she keeps them?"

"He says they're always in her purse, you just gotta grab the bottle from there and bring it to us."  
  
"Woah, wait a minute. Getting the pills from her purse without her knowing is one thing, but I can't leave the house to come over to you guys; she'd know something was wrong."

"Yeah, and we can't come onto the house grounds without the Secret Service reporting us to the President."

"Josh isn't allowed here until the wedding starts, but I'm sure you or Toby or Will could come over."

"We can't, CJ. The President told us all to stay away until it's time for the ceremony, you know what'll happen if we disobey him; he'll start yelling and then Donna will find out what's happened. You have to come over here."

"Josh is gonna owe me *big time* for this," she muttered.

"Yeah, he knows."

*

CJ waited until Donna had gone to get her hair done before she entered her bedroom and looked for her purse. Finding it on the dresser, she carefully rooted through it until she found a small bottle of pills marked 'Josh's Remedy'. Grabbing them, she closed the purse again and headed from the door; unfortunately, Donna had forgotten her bridal headdress and had returned to her room.

"CJ, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, uh, nothing," she replied, hiding the bottle behind her back while silently cursing Josh Lyman.

"Do you need something?"

"Uh, no, I just wanted to make sure that your dress was okay," she lied.

"CJ, my dress isn't in here, the First Lady put it in the other room, you know that."

"Oh, right, that explains why I couldn't find it then. Well, I guess that's okay, I can go now," CJ said, trying to brush past Donna to leave the room.

"CJ, is everything alright?"

  
"Yes, everything's fine," she said quickly. "Listen, I uh…I'm gonna go for a walk, get some fresh air."

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Donna asked with concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, I just ate a bit too much at dinner last night, that's all; I'm gonna go and walk it off."

"Okay," Donna replied, not totally believing CJ's story.

*

CJ collected her coat and purse from her own room and headed downstairs, making for her rental car.

"CJ?" the First Lady called, stopping CJ as she reached for the handle of the front door. "Donna said you weren't feeling well, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I uh…I'm fine, ma'am."

"CJ, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Is there a problem? Has something gone wrong with the wedding plans?"  
  
"You could say that," CJ muttered.

"CJ?" Abbey prompted, not quite hearing what CJ had said.

"It's nothing, ma'am; nothing that can't be sorted. I just don't want Donna to worry about anything, it'll all be fine."

"Okay," Abbey said slowly, "if you're sure. Let me know if there's anything you need."

"I will."

*

"Where is he?" CJ demanded to know as she arrived at the hotel and found Sam in the lounge room.

"He's upstairs, did you get them?"

"Yes, I got them. Lead me to the idiot."

Sam led the way to Josh's room and knocked on the door. "Josh, CJ's here," he announced as he opened the door and entered.

Josh looked up at them both from his place on the bed. "Did you have any difficulty getting them?" he asked quietly.

"You could say that! I had to lie to Donna *and* to the First Lady. How could you be so dumb as to get drunk the night before your wedding, Josh? Does this wedding mean nothing to you?"

"Of course it means something to me!" he defended. "That's why I *didn't* get drunk."

"What?!" CJ looked at him closely and narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean you *didn't* get drunk?"

"Just what I say, CJ. I didn't get drunk and I'm not hungover. In fact, those pills you have there," he said, motioning to the bottle of pills in her hand, "are not for hangovers."

"So, what *are* they for?" she asked.

"They're herbal pills or something; they help perk me up a bit without any caffeine. They're perfectly legal and not harmful," he grinned.

"What?! What the hell is going on, Josh? Why did you get me to get the pills and bring them over here?"

"Umm, for fun," he smirked. "We knew you'd have a hard time getting out of the house without being seen and we wanted to see if you'd admit to Donna about what was going on."

"How do you know I didn't?"  
  
"Because you complained not two minutes ago that you'd had to lie to her, that's how."

"This was a prank, simply to piss me off?" CJ asked incredulously. Sam and Josh nodded eagerly, both grinning widely. "I don't believe you two," she muttered. "Do you know how bad I felt about lying to Donna? And how worried I was that you were going to turn up to the ceremony still drunk and break Donna's heart?"

"CJ, I would never do anything to hurt Donna," Josh stated seriously. "Look, there was another reason for getting you to come over here."  
  
"What?" she queried suspiciously.

"I want you to deliver this to Donna; I thought it would be nicer if you took it to her, rather than a courier."

"What is it?" She took the small package from Josh's hands and turned it all ways trying to figure out its content.

"It's my wedding gift to her. Will you take it to her?" he asked hopefully.

"This isn't another prank, is it? She's not going to open it to find a frog or something jumping out at her?"  
  
"CJ, I wouldn't do that," Josh laughed. "Not to Donna," he amended when CJ raised her eyebrow.

*

CJ delivered Josh's gift to an emotional Donna. It turned out to be a beautiful card, hand-made by Josh, along with a sapphire and diamond pendant on a necklace. The card read, "I thought you could use this for your 'something blue'. I'm counting down the minutes until you make me the happiest man in the world. I love you. Josh."

Donna passed the necklace to CJ and asked her to fasten it around her neck. She had originally planned to cover the 'something blue' tradition with the blue in her bouquet, but she figured that she was now covered twice, something she wasn't complaining about.

One last look in the mirror confirmed that she was ready and CJ left the room to allow Donna and her father to have a few minutes alone before the ceremony. Before they knew it, the time had come for Donnatella Moss to become Donnatella Lyman.

*

"You're looking awfully pleased with yourself, Joshua."

"Of course I am, CJ, I'm now married to Donna."

"You can be so sweet sometimes," she smiled.

"I know, I'm sweet as pecan pie," he grinned.

"Hey," Donna smiled as she approached them.

"Well, hello there, Mrs Lyman," Josh replied, his dimples out in full force. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close beside him. "I still can't believe how beautiful you look today," he whispered. "I mean, I didn't think it was *possible* for you to get more beautiful; I didn't think you could improve on perfection."  
  
"Josh," she smirked, "tonight is our wedding night, you're pretty much guaranteed to get lucky, you don't need to say anything else."

"I can't help it, I just…" he paused and looked at her, totally oblivious to CJ watching them, "I love you."

"I know," Donna said, brushing her lips against his quickly. "Thanks for all your help with the wedding, CJ," she said, turning to look at her friend, but still keeping one of her hands clasped with Josh's. "Everything seemed to go smoothly, I was sure something would go wrong."

"Something did go wrong."

"What?" Donna and Josh were both confused.

"Donna, you've ended up married to this idiot," CJ grinned, hitching a thumb in Josh's direction. "You don't think that's as a result of something going wrong?"

"Hey!" Josh objected. Donna and CJ both laughed at his facial expression and Donna finally gave in and wiped it away with a kiss.

"You have a point, but I think he's worth it." Josh tried to fight the smug smile forming on his face, but failed. "Don't get too conceited, Josh, I can still change my mind. I can always request an annulment before tonight, you know," Donna grinned.

"You could, but you won't," he replied confidently. "Anyway, who says we need to wait until tonight for that all-important, annulment-voiding consummation?"

"I think I'm going to leave you two alone now," CJ laughed. Josh gave her a grateful look. "However, I think I see the President headed in this direction, so you won't be alone for long."

"Damn," Josh muttered. He decided to take advantage of their short time alone though and gave Donna a lingering kiss.

*

"Donna, that was a wonderful speech your father gave," the President said as he approached the bride and groom.

"Yes, Sir, it was," she agreed.

"Did he write it himself?"

"Uh, yes, I think so."

"Hmm, think I could hire him to replace Toby?" he mused with a grin.

"I don't think my mom would be very happy about that, Sir," she laughed.

"Oh well. Anyway, I just wanted to catch you two alone for a moment to offer you my congratulations. I know I've said it already, but that was in public and I couldn't say everything I wanted to; I have a certain reputation to keep up, you know, and I don't want Abbey finding out I've turned into an old romantic."

"I wouldn't say you were *that* old, Sir," Josh grinned.

"Josh, you are a very lucky man," the President continued. "Donnatella here is a wonderful woman, and I know that you will always respect and love her. She is a part of my family; you both are, and always will be. We have done a lot of things during our time in office so far, but one of my fondest memories, when I look back on it all ten years down the line, will be that my running for office allowed you two to meet; I will always be thankful for that."

"So will I, Sir," Josh said honestly, smiling as he felt Donna tighten her grip on his hand.

"Donna," the President said, turning his attention to her, "you know what sacrifices your husband has made to allow me to run the country. I don't want to dwell on the past, but we nearly lost him, and not a day goes by when I don't think of what we would have all lost if that bullet had been fatal. The country would have lost the best Deputy Chief of Staff it ever had. They all," he paused and waved to their group of friends and family who had attended the wedding, "would have lost one of the best friends they could ever wish for. His mother would have lost yet another child, something that no-one should have to suffer - I pray every day that my children outlive me - and I would have lost a son." He stopped and watched them closely; they were both fighting back tears. "You though, Donna…you would have lost your soul-mate, and I know you would never have recovered from that; I can't bear to imagine my life without Abbey. This is my way of saying that you two need to cherish each moment you have together, make the most of life, as it's too short to waste. Will you do that? For me?"

Josh and Donna glanced at each other before replying in unison, "We will, Sir."

The President nodded and started to walk away; Josh called him back.

"Sir?" The President turned and stood in front of them again. "We…we just wanted to thank *you*, for everything you've done for us today, throwing such a wonderful ceremony and party for us, you have no idea how much it means to us. We also want to thank you for being who you are, a wonderful man who we respect and who we are honored to work for. Thank you."

Donna smiled warmly to silently echo Josh's sentiments and the President nodded and turned away, a single tear of pride emerging from the corner of his right eye.

*

"You're all ready to go then, Josh?"

"Yeah, I'm just giving Donna a few minutes alone with her parents."

"Good, that means you can give me the details of your honeymoon destination, so I know how to contact you in an emergency."

"Sorry, Leo, not yet," Josh said with a shake of his head.

"Josh, you told me you would give me the details as you left the reception; you're now leaving," Leo pointed out.

"I know, but there's been a change of plan."

"Josh," Leo warned.

"Don't worry, you'll still get the details, it's just that I didn't want to carry the information around, in case Donna found it. Once we leave, go talk to her Dad, he has all the stuff."

"Her Dad?"

"Yeah, he knows where we're going."

"He does?" Leo sounded a little hurt.

"I needed to talk to him about it, find a few things out," Josh explained. "It'll all make sense when you find out where we're going."

"Why don't you just tell me now?"

Josh shook his head again. "No, it's more fun for me this way," he grinned. "Leo, can you excuse me for a minute? I want to grab Donna and go say goodbye to my mom."

*

"Leo, why won't you tell us where they are?" CJ whined during the Wednesday morning staff meeting. "It's been two days since the wedding, they must be there by now, so it's not like we can sabotage their bed or anything."

"I'm sorry, CJ, but Josh left specific instructions not to tell anyone; he doesn't want to run the risk of the press finding out."

"He thinks the press are going to be interested in him while he's on honeymoon in…where is it again?" she asked slyly.

"Nice try, CJ. No, he doesn't think the press will be interested as such, but he does think that they could use their connections to set up some sort of prank, if they were requested to do so by a certain Press Secretary," Leo grinned.

"I could take offense at that," CJ objected.

"No, you couldn't," Toby stated dryly. "You were talking about doing just that when we flew back here yesterday."  
  
"Toby!" CJ whirled around to glare at him for ratting her out.

"Well, that settles it," Leo said. "CJ, I can't possibly allow you to get yourself into trouble, therefore, I'm not going to tell you where Josh and Donna are."

"Leo! What am I supposed to tell the press when they ask?"

"That we don't comment on the personal lives of staffers; you know the drill, CJ. Look, Josh told me that he is going to contact you all at some point while he's away, but I don't know when; you'll just have to wait."

"Hey, maybe Sam knows?" Will mused.

"He doesn't," Leo said before CJ could pick up on the idea. "Josh trusts Sam's mouth even less than he trusts the rest of the you."

*

"I thought we were in a rush?" Donna queried as Josh scribbled on a piece of paper.

"We are, but I need to send this as we leave."

"What is it?"

"It's a fax to the guys. I'm sending it to CJ at the White House and I'm sure she'll pass it on," he grinned.

"Josh, we're on *honeymoon*; what can possibly be so important that you need to send a fax right now?"

"I'm just telling them where we are, or rather where we've *been*; you know how desperate they were to know."

"Let me guess, you're telling them that I absolutely loved your choice of honeymoon destination and they should be proud of you?"

"Something like that," he smirked.

"Can I read?" she asked, motioning to the piece of paper.

"After I've sent it."

"Josh," she pouted.

"You'll just have to wait, Donnatella, just like you'll have to wait to find out where we're going for the second week of our honeymoon."

"Oh, come on, tell me, I'll make it worth your while," she said seductively.

"I can wait."

"Josh!" She was whining now and Josh grinned widely, his dimples showing fully.

"Believe me, when we get to the airport and you find out where we're going, I think you're gonna want to join the 'mile high club'," he grinned. "I'm surprised you resisted on the way to here."

"I nearly didn't," she admitted. "If it hadn't been for that elderly woman in the seat next to you, who might have been offended, I'd have dragged your ass to the bathroom."

"Really?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Well, in that case, I guess I need to make sure this time that there's no-one sitting near us who might be offended if you jump me."

*

"CJ, you've got a fax from Josh," announced Carol, entering her boss's office and dropping the fax onto her desk.

"What does it say?"

"I think you should read it for yourself."  
  
"Carol."

"CJ, don't worry, it's not another prank, it's just that Josh put a note on the top, addressed to me, saying that I should make you read it yourself."

CJ grabbed the fax from the desk and started to read it.

"Get Toby and Will in here, and get Sam on the phone," she instructed. Carol nodded and left the office to do as CJ had asked.

*

"Hey, CJ, what's up?" a cheery Sam asked over speakerphone.

"I've heard from the *happy couple*," CJ informed him, looking up as Will and Toby entered her office and took a seat on the couch.

"Yeah, where are they?" Sam questioned.

"Well, I think it's easiest if I just read the fax; Toby and Will are here as well."

"Okay, go for it."

"Dear CJ," she read aloud. "I figured I'd made you wait long enough to find out where Donna and I are honeymooning. I also figured that Toby, Will, Sam, and whoever else you roped into betting on our destination, are waiting to find out who's won the money. Well, I'm betting that none of you have - I don't think you'd have picked this place in a million years. We're in Ireland, yes, Ireland. You may recall that Donna's father is Irish, and I asked him for some information on where his family is from. Donna and I have spent the last week touring the area and tracing some of her history. By the way, Donna loved my choice and rewarded me very nicely indeed!! 

We have just packed up and will be on our way to the airport as you read this - the second week of our honeymoon will be spent in a different destination. I'll tell you the country, but not the exact location. We're going to Italy - you can tell I have a theme here, can't you? Yes, Donna's mom is Italian so we're going there, but don't try and find out from her mom exactly where we might be, she won't tell you.

Anyway, I'd better sign off now - Donna is desperate to read this fax, but I won't let her until I've sent it to you, just to annoy her. Well, that and the fact that, until she reads it, she doesn't know where we're going now. I think I'm going to fold the fax up and put it in my pocket until we get to the airport, just to keep her guessing for longer!

Pass this on to Sam, Will, Toby and whoever else might want to read it. I'm now going to try and convince my wife to join the 'mile high club' with me - oh, you'd maybe better not let the press read this, don't want that part getting into the papers…although it might do my reputation even more good!

See you in a week. A very, very happily married, Josh."

CJ finished reading and looked at Will and Toby, waiting for one of them to speak. Sam piped up instead.

"Hey, so, who won the money then?"

"No-one, Sam; Josh was right, none of us picked Ireland, although, Carol picked Italy."

"So, who gets the money then…Carol?"

"I don't know. Josh put a 'PS' on the fax, saying that if no-one won the bet, he and Donna would like the money donated to Cancer Research. I guess we should do that, although maybe we should give Carol something, since she guessed part of it. What do you think, Toby?"

"I think I'd like to know how Josh found out about the bet." He paused and looked at the phone. "Sam?"

"Hey, I didn't say a word, I swear."

"Of course you didn't," Toby said drolly. "Anyway, I think you should talk to Carol and, if she's in agreement, we donate all the money to charity. How much is it anyway?"

"With everyone that placed a bet, including the press corps, there's about $300."

"Give it to charity," Sam said. "No-one can argue with that."

"Okay, I'll spread the word," CJ agreed.

*

"Happy, Donnatella?" Josh asked quietly as they walked beside the river.

"Very."

"Even though there were balloons and streamers in our room when we got here?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "It just shows that the President and Leo care."

"It shows they have nothing better to do with their time other than plan stupid pranks," Josh grumbled.

"Well, if ever there was a case of the pot calling the kettle black…"

Josh laughed. "Okay, point taken." He led her to a bench and they sat down; Josh pulled her against his chest. "I love you, you know," he said quietly.

Donna looked up at him and smiled. "I know, and I love you too," she replied softly. "I also love the fact that no-one knows us here; we can just be ourselves and do what we want, when we want, without having to worry about ringing phones or anything."

"Yeah, I just wish it could be longer," he agreed.

"Me too, but I guess it makes this time more special."

"Yeah." Josh looked down and gave her a soft kiss. "So, you wanna go back to the hotel now?" he asked eagerly.

"You're incorrigible," Donna admonished with an eye roll.

"Yes, but you love me for it."

"Yes, I do."

They stood up and walked arm-in-arm back to their hotel, counting their blessings for having each other, and for their wonderful friends and families back home.

"You know we're gonna have to get Leo and the President back, don't you?" Josh stated as they walked.

"Yes, I know," Donna sighed. "But, we have other things to occupy us right now, Joshua."

Josh quickened their pace in acknowledgement of her words. "I can multi-task, but don't worry, this time is just for us," he vowed.

**

The End

And, alas, that really is the end for this series, I've had fun writing it though. :-)


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